^^•^v^W^frf*' 


BV  4501  .T6  1867 
Todd,  John,  1800-1873. 
Hints  and  thoughts  for 
Christians 


niNTS  AND  THOUGHTS 


CHRISTIANS. 


BY  llEV.  JOHN  TODD,  D.  D. 


PUBLISHED   BY   THE 

AMEEICAN   TEACT   SOCIETY. 

150  NASSAU-STEEET,  NEW  YOIIK. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18C7,  by 
the  Amekican  Tract  yociETY,  in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Distiict 
Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


*"^v'..- 


CONTENTS. 


I.  Tiirniug  the  Spy-Glass - page      5 

II.  Cutting  Dovni  Expenses 10 

in.  Giving  Made  Easy - 17 

rV.  Uncle  Jerry -- 2G 

V.  A  Sting,  and  its  Cure '■'>■) 

VI.  Home  Missions  at  Home -- - 11 

VII.  Home  Missions  at  Home - 18 

VLII.  Our  Friends -     5f) 

IX.  Why  We  Lose  Our  Friends --- 63 

X.  A  Mmister  Wanted -- 71 

XI.   Spiritual  Indigestion 78 

XII.  A  Model  Superintendent 85 

Xin.  Keeping  the  Sabbath 91 

XIV.  How  to  Make  our  Prayer-meeting  Dull — 99 

XV.  How  to  Make  our  rraycr-meeting  Interesting  - 10  j 

XVI.  Family  Government -- Ill 

XVn.  The  Model  Deacon 118 

XVm.   "We  Hire  by  the  Year" 126 

XIX.  Preaching  to  Children 135 

XX.  Palingenesia 142 

XXI.  The  Young  Man's  Letter 150 

XXIL  The  Old  Folks  at  Homo - 158 

XXm.  Philarguria 161 


4  CONTENTS. 

XXIV.  Tobacco-Eaising  Christians 183 

XXV.  A  Queer  Old  Lady - 191 

XXVI.  Anonymous  Letters - - --  19G 

XXVn.  Chriytians  TraveUiug 20i 

XXVIIL  Old  Samp 2P 

XXIX.  Breaking  the  Left  Arm ••  21S 

XXX.   "  The  Age  of  the  Press  "  - - 226 

XXXL  Hints  to  our  Churches 234 

XXXn.  "Why  Thomas  was  not  at  the  Prayer-meeting- 21? 


HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS 


FOR 


CHRISTIANS 


I. 

Turning  the  jSpy-Glass. 

Did  you  ever  look  through  a  spy-glass  ? 
How  it  magnifies  every  object  that  comes 
within  its  range !  How  plainly  you  can  see 
things  that  are  a  great  way  off!  And  then, 
did  you  ever  turn  it  and  look  into  the  large 
end  ?  How  small,  and  how  very  far  off  it 
makes  every  thing  look !  And  yet  you  see 
every  thing  very  distinctly,  though  they  seem 
so  small. 

In  looking  back  upon  the  years  and  the 
things  that  are  past,  I  sometimes  seem  to  be 
looking  through  a  spy-glass  in  this  way.   How 


6  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

small,  and  yet  how  distinct  cvoiy  thing  ap- 
pears. 

I  was  lately  recalling  the  first  funeral  that 
I  was  called  to  attend  after  my  ordination.  It 
was  in  a  distant  part  of  the  town,  in  a  small 
brown  house,  low  and  old  and  humble,  on 
the  side  of  a  hill.  In  it  there  lived  a  young 
widow  with  her  two  babes,  and  her  aged  fa- 
ther. They  were  all  the  world  to  each  other. 
If  I  remember  rightly,  the  husband  had  been 
suddenly  and  instantly  killed  at  his  work  by 
the  breaking  of  some  machinery.  And  now 
his  wife,  the  daughter  of  the  old  man  and  the 
mother  of  these  little  children,  was  to  be  bur- 
ied. The  house  was  crowded  at  the  funeral, 
for  all  the  neighbors  respected  this  family, 
and  felt  for  them  in  their  sorrows. 

I  cannot  recall  the  name  of  the  family — 
they  were  not  of  my  flock.  But  I  remember 
the  picture.  The  old  family  Bible  much  worn, 
lay  on  a  little  candle-stand,  and  the  best  chair 
in  the  house  was  set  for  the  minister.  Near 
the  head  of  the  coffin  sat  the  old  father,  and 
on  each  knee  a  little  grandchild,  about  eigh- 
teen montlis  old — for  they  were  twins.     They 


TUENING  THE  SPY-GLASS.  7 

were  dressed  in  little  white  robes,  with  a  sim- 
ple knot  of  bhick  ribbon  on  each  shoulder. 
The  aged  one  put  an  arm  round  each  child, 
while  the  tears  literally  rushed  down  his  face. 
But  they,  the  little  motherless  ones,  sat  con- 
tented, playing  with  the  white  locks  of  their 
grandfather,  feeling  that  all  was  right  with 
them  so  long  as  they  had  him  with  them.  All 
the  roomful  of  people  wept  at  the  sight,  rather 
than  at  any  thing  that  I  could  say. 

I  wondered  if  that  mother,  in  her  new 
home,  w^as  then  thinking  of  these  beautiful 
babes.  I  wondered  if  it  was  of  such  Christ 
was  speaking  when  he  said,  "  Their  angels  do 
always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father  in  heav- 
en." And  now  I  am  wondering  what  must 
be  the  state  of  that  Christian  mother,  reared 
in  that  little  home,  as  her  spirit  hath  grown 
in  the  world  of  light,  and  what  is  the  history 
of  those  little  babes :  Have  they  been  sancti- 
fied, and  have  they  joined  their  mother,  or 
do  they  still  linger  in  this  world  of  trial  ?  In 
a  lowly,  very  likely  an  unknown  grave,  that 
old  man  sleeps;  but  has  he  not  forgotten  all 
his  tears  here,  in  the  blessedness  of  heaven  ? 


8  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Another  thought — a  more  sad  one.  I  said 
that  all  who  attended  that  funeral  were  much 
affected.  There  was  hardly  a  dry  eye  among 
them.  But  I  never  heard  that  one  of  them 
was  so  affected  as  to  turn  to  Christ  and  be- 
come a  Christian.  Such  feelings  are  "like 
the  morning  cloud  and  the  early  dew,"  unless 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  make  them  deeper  than 
tears. 

As  we  go  along  in  life  and  turn  the  spy- 
glass and  look  back,  we  see  the  frailties  and 
the  faults  of  our  departed  friends  grow  less 
and  less,  and  smaller  and  smaller,  till  at 
length  we  see  nothing  left  but  their  goodness 
and  their  excellencies.  And  will  it  not  be  so 
for  ever,  till  the  time  shall  come,  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  soul,  when  we  shall  forget  all  their 
faults,  and  remember  only  what  was  good, 
and  thus  we  shall  see  onl}^  "the  spirits  of 
just  men  made  perfect  .^" 

On  the  other  hand,  as  we  turn  the  sp}- 
glass,  our  own  shortcomings  and  sins  do  not 
seem  smaller  or  fewer.  They  seem  more  in 
number  and  larger  in  size,  till  our  past  life 
seems  very  barren  of  good,  and  very  full  of 


TURNING  THE  SPY-GLASS.  9 

evil.  May  it  not  be  so  for  ever  ?  And  thus, 
as  we  advance,  the  mercy  of  God  and  the 
compassion  of  Christ  will  seem  more  and  more 
precious  to  the  soul,  till  we  can  admire  him, 
love  him,  and  trust  him  more  and  more.  Per- 
haps one  of  the  feelings,  when  Christ  comes 
"to  be  admired  by  all  them  that  believe," 
will  be  this  great  sense  of  un worthiness.  But 
we  would  not  have  it  otherwise.  We  shall 
continue  to  turn  the  spy-glass  for  ever,  we 
doubt  not;  and  if  "the  hole  of  the  pit"  from 
which  we  were  taken  seems  deep  and  dark, 
and  if  "the  rock  whence  we  were  hewn" 
seems  rough  and  hard,  so  much  the  more  shall 
we  adore  and  praise  the  Lamb  who  hath  re- 
deemed us.  Oh,  reader,  often  turn  the  spy- 
glass and  look  back  on  your  life.  What  you 
see  will  do  you  good  and  make  you  better. 


1* 


10  HINTS  A>JD  THOUGHTS. 


II. 


Cutting  Down  Expenses 

We  all  cry  out  upon  the  extravagance  of 
our  day,  showing  itself  in  every  thing  and  in 
every  form.  We  hear  a  great  deal  too  said 
about  the  duty  of  "cutting  down  expenses," 
and  returning  to  primitive  habits.  We  feel 
that  it  is  a  duty,  especially  for  men  who  live 
on  salaries  and  small  stated  means.  But  it  is 
much  easier  to  acknowledge  the  duty,  and  to 
exhort  others  to  it,  than  to  perform  it.  I  sym- 
pathize with  those  who,  like  me,  are  making 
the  experiment.  Now  to  begin :  postage.  A 
very  small  affair,  you  think.  True,  but  I  know, 
from  actual  accounts  kept,  that  my  postage 
costs  me  far  more  than  it  did  at  the  old  dear 
rates.  I  often  now  send  off  eight  letters  a 
day,  no  one  of  which  is  on  my  ov/n  account ; 
and  I  think  I  send  at  least  six  now,  where  I 
did  one  then  ;  this  multiplies  my  paper,  pens, ' 
and  ink  six  times,  and  how  am  I  to  "cut 
down?"     When  so  much  |s  put  within  our 


CUTTING  DOWN  EXPENSES.  11 

reach,  our  desires  grasp  largel}',  and  we  feel 
that  it  is  a  duty  to  use  freely,  and  as  the 
Irish  father  wrote  to  his  son,  when  postage 
was  put  down  from  twelve  pence  to  a  penny, 
"Write  often,  Georgie,  and  remember  that 
every  letter  you  write  saves  your  father  elev- 
en pence." 

In  one  of  our  financial  reverses  or  ;yanics, 
I  was  greatly  amused  at  hearing  one  of  my 
rich  friends  describe  his  attempts  at  "cutting 
down  expenses."  He  had  heavy  engagements 
on  hand,  had  met  with  losses,  and  the  sky 
looked  dark.  So  one  morning  before  going 
to  the  store,  after  having  drank  his  cup  of 
"Mocha,"  and  eaten  well,  he  began, 

"Wife,  I  do  believe  w^e  must  begin  at 
once  and  curtail  our  expenses.  Times  are 
fearful,  and  I  don't  know  what  a  day  may 
bring  forth.  I  come  home  to  poor  sleep,  and 
I  go  away  trembling  every  morning." 

"  Yery  well,  my  dear,  I  feel  just  so,  and 
will  agree  to  any  thing  you  propose,  and  will 
second  every  plan.    Where  shall  we  begin  ?" 

"Why,  there's  m}"  cigars.  I  can  leave 
oflf  smoking,  I  rather  think." 


12  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

My  friend  is  a  foreigner,  and  had  been 
brought  up  in  a  country  where  every  male 
smokes  from  childhood  to  the  grave. 

"Oh,  no,  no;  why,  you  have  smoked  all 
your  life  long,  and  it  would  kill  you  to  stop. 
And  besides,  you  have  a  thousand,  or  perhaps 
three  thousand  on  hand,  all  paid  for.  I  wont 
hear  a  word  to  your  denying  yourself  so.  I 
wont  hear  to  that." 

"Well,  you  are  a  dear,  good  wife,  and  I  '11 
not  dispute  you ;  but  do  you  now  propose." 

"Suppose  we  sell  the  coach  horses.  It's 
very  expensive  to  keep  them,  and  we  very 
seldom  use  them,  you  know." 

"True,  true.  But,  my  dear,  if  we  sell  the 
horses,  then  Tom  will  have  nothing  in  the 
world  to  do,  and  you  would  n't  turn  Tom 
awa}^,  surely?" 

"  Why,  I  did  n't  think  of  that.  Why  not 
sell  old  Kate,  we  never  use  her  ?" 

"Yes,  but  old  Kate  has  got  a  baby,  and 
you  don't  know  into  whose  hands  that  beau- 
tiful colt  will  fall." 

"Oh,  now  I  do  think  of  one  thing.  AVe 
can  do  without  the  lire  in  the  hall ;  that  great 


CUTTING  DOWN  EXPENSES.  13 

^stove  burns  a  world  of  coal,  and  wc  can  get 
along  without  it;  all  the  chambers  have  regis- 
ters by  which  to  let  in  heat." 

"True,  but  you  know  that  grandmother 
has  to  go  through  the  entry  to  get  to  her 
room,  and  you  would  not  make  her  go  through 
a  cold  hall,  would  jou  ?" 

"Well,  now  you  propose ;  for  I  can't  think 
of  any  thing  else." 

"Suppose,  my  dear,  you  do  with  one  girl 
less ;  there  are  only  three  of  us,  and  perhaps 
two  girls  could  get  along." 

"  Yery  well.  I  am  agreed.  Which  shall 
we  turn  off?" 

"Suppose  it  be  Sue;  she  has  lived  with 
us  only  two  years,  and  the  others  arc  old  set- 
tlers, and  it  would  seem  hard  to  turn  them 
away." 

"So  be  it.  I  will  give  her  notice  this  very 
day." 

Off  went  my  friend  to  his  counting-room, 
quite  elated  that  he  was  "cutting  down  ex- 
penses." It  was  to  save  him  four  or  five  dol- 
lars a  week.  It  brightened  the  whole  day. 
But  alas  for  human  gladness!     When  he  got 


14:  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

home  at  night,  the  whole  hovise  was  in  dis- 
tress, grandmother  crying,  and  wife  crying, 
and  Sue  utterly  used  up. 

"  Well,  what 's  the  matter  now  ?" 

"  Oh,  Sue  don't  w^ant  to  go,"  says  grand- 
mother. 

"  She  's  lived  here  so  long,  and  is  so  much 
at  home  here,"  says  wife. 

"She  has  no  place  to  go  to,"  says  grand- 
mother. 

"She  says  places  are  scarce  now,  especial- 
ly good  places,"  says  wife. 

"Sue,  Sue,"  shouted  my  friend.  In  came 
Sue,  almost  howling  at  the  cruelty  of  her 
master. 

"  Why,  Sue,  do  n't  you  want  to  go  ?" 

"No,  sir;  why  should  I?  I  feel  that  I 
can't  go." 

"Yery  well.  Sue,  stay,  stay;  we'll  all 
swim  or  sink  together." 

And  thus  ended  his  ' '  cutting  down  expen- 
ses." 

In  this  case  there  was  no  real  necessity. 
But  it  is  not  so  with  the  poorer  classes  of 
society,  to  which  we  ministers  and  most  of  our 


CUTTING  DOWN  EXPENSES.  15 

people  belong.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether 
we  have  it  in  our  power  to  make  great  changes 
at  once.  But  we  can  begin,  or  as  splendid 
writers  would  say,  "inaugurate"  small  ones 
at  once.  Where  we  used  to  have  a  pair  of 
new  boots  yearly,  by  properly  oiling  the 
leather,  tops  and  bottoms,  once  in  two  weeks, 
we  can  make  them  last  two  years.  By  prop- 
erly brushing  and  hanging  up  the  hat,  using 
the  old  one  in  storms,  we  can  make  our  hat 
last  two  years  instead  of  one.  By  a  careful 
management  of  the  stove,  you  can  double  the 
value  of  your  fuel.  By  using  molasses  on 
your  cakes  instead  of  Stuart's  syrup,  by 
learning  to  use  less  sugar  by  half  a  teaspoon- 
ful,  by  having  fewer  pies  and  cakes  on  the 
table,  by  watching  the  soap-barrel,  that  there 
is  no  waste  there,  by  watching  a  thousand  lit- 
tle leaking-placcs,  which  a  good  wife  can  do, 
we  can  "cut  down  expenses."  The  true  econ- 
omy in  buying  is  to  get  the  hest,  not  the  most 
fashionable,  but  the  best  quality  or  none.  I 
have  always  found  the  best  merino  dress  for 
the  ladies  the  cheapest  in  the  end.  True 
economy  is  to  go  without,  or  get  good  quality. 


16  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Do  n't  be  ashamed  of  bciug  economical.  Any 
tiling  but  debt.  By  all  means,  at  any  present 
suffering,  unless  you  are  on  tlie  sick-bed,  keep 
out  of  debt.  If  you  must  run  in  debt,  borrow 
in  a  large  sum,  and  not  run  up  little  bills  here 
and  there.  You  are  a  prisoner  for  life  if  jow 
do.  If  possible,  save  fifty  dollars  a  year,  if 
no  more.  You  cannot  imagine  how  different 
you  feel  if  you  have  a  little  saved,  and  you 
are  adding  to  it  even  a  little.  I  have  a  noble 
friend  on  whom  I  have  just  called  living  on  a 
salary.  And  they,  by  keeping  account  of 
every  cent  they  spend,  and  by  cutting  down 
and  being  careful  at  every  spot,  contrive  to 
lay  aside  the  fifty  dollars  as  often  as  before 
these  salary-trying  times.  They  are  just  as 
happy,  show  no  meanness,  and  I  honor  and 
love  them  the  more.  Come  now,  good  reader, 
what  will  you  do  towards  ' '  cutting  down  ex- 
penses?" 


GIVING  MADE  EASY.  J7 


III. 


Giving   M.ade  Easy. 

Those  who  arc  open-liandccl,  free,  gener- 
ous, and  to  wlioni  it  is  easy  to  give  away,  are 
not  the  people  who  have  the  means,  usually, 
of  sustaining  the  charities  of  the  church  and 
of  the  age.  It  is  those  who  naturally  love 
money,  who  labor  and  toil  for  it,  and  who 
save  it,  and  to  whom  it  is  naturally  hard 
work  to  give  away,  who  have  this  work  to  do. 
They  are  naturally  covetous,  jind  will  live 
and  die  so,  unless  another  principle — the  con- 
straining love  of  Christ — comes  in  and  makes 
them  liberal.  Xow  if  I  can  suggest  to  all 
such — those  who  have  conscience  and  Chris- 
tian ])rinciple,  and  who  want  to  be  liberal,  but 
find  it  hard  work — a  method  by  which  they 
can  give  easily,  I  am  sure  they  will  thank  me. 

The  key  then  which  will  easily  unlock  the 
heart  and  open  the  purse,  and  make  giving 
easy,  is  to  make  giving  to  Christ  a  part  of  wor- 
ship. 


lb  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Open  to  the  eiglitli  chapter  of  Second  Co- 
rintliians,  and  you  will  see  that  giving  is  con- 
sidered an  outflowing  of  the  grace  of  Christ 
which  was  in  them.  "As  ye  abound  in  every 
thing,  in  faith,  in  utterance,  and  knowledge, 
and  in  all  diligence,  and  in  your  love  towards 
us,  see  that  ye  abound  in  this  grace  also.  For 
3^e  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes 
he  became  poor,  that  ye  through  his  poverty 
might  be  made  rich ;"  that  is,  the  grace  which 
brought  Christ  from  heaven  to  the  cross  will 
flow  out  of  the  Christian,  because  if  he  have 
not  the  spirit  of  Christ  he  is  none  of  his. 

Under  the  Jewish  system  there  was  no 
worship  without  giving,  and  every  act  of  giv- 
ing was  an  act  of  worship.  When  David  and 
the  princes  of  Israel  gathered  together  to 
make  an  offerhig  to  build  a  temple  which  he, 
and  probably  many  of  the  princes  would  never 
see,  what  a  magnificent  offering  they  made 
with  prayer  and  worship;  and  the  gifts  and 
the  worship  rose  up  to  the  high  heavens  to- 
gether. When  Solomon  came  to  dedicate  the 
temple,  he  offered  a  model  prayer,  and  hon- 


GIVING  MADE  EASY.  19 

orcd  God  with  all  the  ciulowmciits  of  his  great 
mind ;  but  with  it  he  i)i'eseirted  his  twenty- 
two  thousand  oxen,  his  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty thousand  sheep,  and  other  things  in  pro- 
portion. Eeckon  it  up  and  see  if  it  could  be 
less,  according  to  our  lowest  estimates,  than 
thirteen  hundred  thousand  dollars.  This  you 
will  say  was  a  national  offering,  on  a  most 
extraordinary  occasion.  True ;  but  you  will 
recollect  that  in  all  their  worship  every  man 
was  to  bring  an  offering:  "  None  shall  appear 
before  me  empty."  And  lest  any  should  say, 
"I  am  not  a  prince,  I  am  not  rich,  I  cannot 
bring  my  talent  of  gold,  or  my  unblemished 
bullock,  or  my  sheep,"  the  poor  man  was  not 
therefore  to  be  deprived  of  worship.  He  may 
bring  his  turtledoves,  or  his  young  pigeons, 
or  if  he  has  nothing  else,  his  little  portion  of 
flour,  his  wine,  his  new  corn,  his  cakes  fried 
or  baked,  and  if  he  has  not  even  these,  his 
sprinkling  of  salt.  The  poorest  might  wor- 
ship, but  he  must  not  come  empty  in  his  wor- 
ship. Worship  and  giving  were  inseparably 
joined  together. 

When  the  mere}'  of  God,  after  the  ascen- 


20  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

sion,  came  to  the  Geutile  world,  the  very  first 
door  tlie  angel  entered  was  that  of  Cornelius, 
the  Roman  soldier,  whose  prayers  and  alms 
came  up  before  Grod:  "he  gave  much  alms  to 
the  people."  When  the  poor  woman  came  up 
to  the  temple  to  worship,  she  cast  in  her  two 
mites  as  a  part  of  her  worship.  And  Paul 
says,  "But  to  do  good  and  to  communicate 
forget  not ;  for  with  such  sacrifices  Grod  is  well 
pleased."  Gifts  and  offerings  and  worship  go 
together.  These  gifts  are  an  "odor  of  sweet 
smell,  a  sacrifice  well  pleasing  to  G-od."  In 
all  our  charities  and  contributions,  Paul  directs 
that  we  attend  to  four  points:  first,  they  must 
be  acts  of  worship ;  second,  at  stated  times ; 
thirdly,  frequent;  and  fourthly,  universal. 
Now  see. .  "  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  w^eek, 
let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store,  as 
God  hath  prospered  him." 

And  this  leads  me  to  saj^,  that  in  fact,  you 
do  not  give  to  Foreign  Missions,  or  to  Home 
Missions,  or  to  the  Tract  cause ;  if  you  do  it 
as  an  act  of  worship,  you  give  directly  to  Christ. 
"Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 


GIVING  MADE  EASY.  21 

We  will  now  suppose  that  we  all  give  as 
an  act  of  worship — and  that  this  is  the  true 
Bible  principle  I  have  no  doubt — what  would 
be  the  results  ? 

It  would  he  very  easy  to  give. 

If  we  part  with  our  property,  not  as  some- 
thing devoted  to  Christ,  but  as  something 
wrenched  from  us  to  feed  or  clothe  men,  and 
something  sacrificed  to  stop  the  calls  of  agents ; 
if  ""ivino;  is  somethino:  to  be  endured  and 
groaned  over,  and  got  rid  of  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, we  shall  always  give  grudgingly,  sparing- 
ly, with  no  heart,  no  faith,  and  no  reward. 
There  is  no  place  where  we  enjoy  giving  so 
much  as  at  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer, 
because  we  there  give  as  an  act  of  worship. 
We  give  and  pray  together. 

Then  as  to  frequency.  Is  not  public  wor- 
ship easier,  pleasanter,  more  profitable  to  him 
wdio  goes  to  the  house  of  God  weekly  and 
statedl}^,  than  if  he  went,  but  once  in  six 
months?^  If  you  were  to  pray  in  public,  would 
it  not  be  easier  to  pray  to  Christ  than  to  the 
congregation  ?  So,  if  you  give  to  Christ  as  a 
part  of  worship,  you  do  not  give  to  men,  but 


22  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

to  liim  directly.  It  is  pleasant  to  think  that 
when  we  give  to  Christ,  it  is  just  as  accepta- 
ble to  him  as  prayer.  It  will  therefore  make 
us  "cheerful"  givers,  and  "  G-od  loveth  a 
cheerful  giver."  If  I  set  apart  a  share  of  my 
property  to  him  to-day,  it  matters  not  to  me 
what  the  next  call  may  be.  It  may  go  to 
send  a  minister  to  the  heathen,  or  to  preach 
to  the  scattered,  feeble,  and  discouraged  little 
flock  at  home  ;  or  it  may  send  a  Bible  to  some 
destitute  family,  or  a  messenger  to  the  hospi- 
tal, it  matters  little  to  me.  I  have  given  it 
to  Christ,  and  I  look  to  him  to  direct  it  and 
use  it.  The  bread  cast  upon  the  waters  may 
not  be  found  till  after  many  days  ;  but  it  went 
into  Christ's  purse,  and  whether  he  sent  it  to 
the  poor  or  let  Judas  steal  it,  I  have  not  the 
responsibility.  The  poor  widow's  mite,  and 
the  ministrations  of  the  women  of  G-alilee, 
were  like  worship,  acceptable  to  him.  It 
would  be  pleasant,  if  like  Mary  you  could 
pour  ointment  directly  on  the  head  of  the 
Redeemer ;  but  it  is  just  as  acceptable  to  him 
if  you  pour  it  on  the  wounded  disciple.  It 
would  be  pleasant  on  the  cold,  stormy  night 


GIVING   MADE  EASY.  23 

to  have  Christ  come  in  and  share  your  warmth 
and  food  and  home.  Give  it  to  one  of  his 
brethren,  and  you  give  it  to  Him.  It  woukl 
be  pleasant,  my  brother  minister,  for  you  to 
liarness  your  horse  and  carry  Him  to  preach 
to  some  neo'lected  neiG;hborhood.  Just  as 
acceptable  to  him  if  3'ou  will  go  yourself  and 
l)reach  to  that  neighborhood.  Your  hand, 
Christian,  feels  stiff  and  tight  ^yhen  called 
upon  to  give  to  some  "cause"  or  "object"  or 
"thing."  Why,  you  need  not  turn  your  bul- 
lock into  the  field  to  run  anywhere ;  bring 
him  directly  up  to  the  altar  of  God  and  sacri- 
lice  him  to  the  Lord.  The  poor  man  need 
not  let  his  turtledoves  go  out  of  his  hand 
into  the  open  air ;  he  may  bring  them  to  the 
altar  where  the  hyssop  will  be  dipped  into 
their  blood,  and  the  little  creatures  will  preach 
of  the  shedding  of  that  blood  that  will  take 
away  sin. 

Giving  as  an  act  of  worship,  will  also  cause 
more  to  le  given  to  Christ. 

When  a  call  is  made  in  a  congregation,  it 
is  often  the  case  that  each  man  has  his  favor- 
ite object.      "I  don't  give  to  Foreign  Mis- 


24:  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS, 

sions,"  says  one.  "I  give  only  to  Home  Mis- 
sions," sajs  a  second.  "I  don't  give  to  either, 
I  give  to  the  Bible  Society,"  says  a  third. 
Now,  properly  speaking,  you  don't  give  to 
either.  You  do  n't  expect  the  Bible  Society, 
or  the  Missionary  Society  to  reward  you.  You 
expect  Christ  to  do  it.  Then  why  not  give  it 
to  Hiin  directly,  and  make  it  an  act  of  solemn 
worship.  Besides,  if  we  gave  as  an  act  of 
worship,  we  should  be  ashamed  to  deposit 
half  a  dime,  and  ask  Christ  to  receive  it  as  an 
act  of  worship.  We  should  want  a  larger  sum 
to  pay  over. 

"If  I  v/as  rich  and  had  abundance,  I  would 
give.  I  shouldn't  feel  it."  True,  and  would 
you  feel  any  reward?  "But  I  have  but  little, 
I  am  poor."  Very  well.  But  it  is  your  duty 
to  worship,  is  it  not?  ''Let  every  one  of  you,''' 
the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich,  lay  aside,  and 
that  ''according  as  Grod  hath  prospered  him; 
for  with  such  sacrifices  Grod  is  well  pleased." 
It  is  as  really  a  sacrifice  as  if  you  brought 
your  sheep  or  your  bullock,  and  offered  it  on 
Grod's  altar.  You,  poor  man,  are  not  willing 
that  the  rich  shall  receive  all  the  rewards  at 


GIVING  MADE  EASY.  25 

the  last  day.  AVliat  crown  that  a  monarch 
ever  wore  woukl  buy  the  reward  of  her  who 
broke  the  alabaster  box  of  ointment  on  the 
head  of  Jesus,  or  even  the  reward  of  the  wid- 
ow who  brought  her  two  mites  ?  I  know  that 
it  would  be  better  for  the  rich  and  for  their 
children,  were  they  to  cast  tenfold  into  the 
treasury  of  the  Lord ;  but  I  want  the  common 
people  and  the  poor  to  have  the  blessing  of 
giving,  consecrating  it  by  prayer,  and  making 
every  gift  an  act  of  worship.  When  the  day 
comes  when  all  the  church  shall  act  on  this 
principle,  when  the  ten  thousand  rain-drops 
shall  go  in  and  make  up  little  streams,  and 
these  again  make  up  great  rivers,  when  none 
shall  appear  before  him  empty,  then  will  vast- 
1}^  more  be  given  to  Christ,  and  giving  will  be 
as  delightful  as  any  other  part  of  worship. 


26  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

IV. 

Uncle    Jerry. 

There  are  some  men  wlio  seem  by  general 
consent  "elected"  to  be  "uncle"  to  a  wliole 
neighborliood.  Why  it  is  that  they  receive 
this  title,  is  what  I  do  not  know.  Perhaps 
because  they  are  too  old  for  a  younger  title, 
and  not  gentle  enough  and  loving  enough  to 
be  called  "father."  Be  it  as  it  may,  old  Jere- 
miah Slow  was  known  by  the  title  of  "  Uncle 
Jerry"  as  long  ago  as  I  can  remember.  He 
had  many  traits  of  character  peculiar  to  him- 
self, as  every  man  has ;  but  I  am  to  confine 
myself  to  his  moral  character. 

Now  you  must  know  that  "Uncle  Jerry" 
lived  in  a  corner  of  the  town,  full  four  and  a 
half  miles  from  the  centre  and  from  the  house 
of  worship.  For  sixty  years  he  had  lived  in 
the  same  house,  slept  in  the  same  room,  gone 
to  the  same  church,  and  sat  in  the  same  pew. 
He  had  a  venerable  look,  honest  in  appear- 
ance, but  a  look  that  was  vacant  and  inexpres- 


UNCLE  JEEEY.  27 

sive.  He  was  ^Yllat  we  call  a  "clever"  man; 
by  which  wc  meau  harmless,  inoffensive,  and 
not  efficient  enough  to  run  against  anybody. 
He  was  a  good  neighbor,  if  a  want  pressed 
itself  upon  him;  but  he  never  troubled  him- 
self to  hunt  for  sorrows,  in  order  to  relieve 
them.  No  man,  in  the  whole  congregation, 
was  more  sure  to  be  in  his  place  on  the  Sab- 
bath than  Uncle  Jerry.  Be  the  W'Cathcr  what 
it  might,  let  any  stay  away  that  chose,  he  was 
always  there.  Old  Kate,  with  a  long  white 
streak  in  her  face,  w^as  sure  to  be  there,  let 
what  other  horses  stand  in  the  stable  that 
would.  At  the  very  moment  the  minister  en- 
tered the  pulpit.  Uncle  Jerry  entered  his  pew. 
So  he  had  done  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
being  able  to  count  over  twenty-one  different 
preachers  wdio  had  come  and  gone,  while  he 
stuck  by  the  church.  He  often  boasted  that 
he  had  travelled  more  miles  in  going  to  and 
from  the  church,  than  would  be  necessary  to 
carry  him  round  the  world.  And  yet  Uncle 
Jerry  was  not  a  religious  man.  He  lived  and 
died,  so  far  as  we  know,  without  any  religious 
feeling  or  concern.    He  seemed  to  go  to  church 


28  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

out  of  habit,  and  knew  every  man  who  was 
present  or  absent,  every  stranger  who  hap- 
pened in,  where  he  belonged,  and  to  whom 
he  was  related.  Uncle  Jerry  had  no  sympathy 
with  contributions  and  collections,  and  seemed 
to  feel  that  all  who  meddled  with  such  things 
were  a  kind  of  spiritual  leech,  to  suck  the  very 
blood  out  of  the  simple.  So  he  lived — not 
having  an  enemy  in  the  world — all  calling  him 
"Uncle  Jerry,"  and  none  feeling  his  loss  at 
death,  except  that  it  seemed  awkward,  at  first, 
to  see  his  pew  empty. 

And  I  have  been  trying  to  discover  how  it 
was  that  a  man  could  be  and  do  as  Uncle 
Jerry  did — attend  church  so  constantly,  hear 
so  many  sermons,  hear  ministers  of  talents  and 
powers  so  unlike,  hear  so  many  of  the  songs 
of  Zion,  and  hear  so  many  prayers — and  yet 
never  manifest  any  interest  in  personal  relig- 
ion ;  and  I  have  come  to  the  following  results : 

1.  He  had  little  to  excite  him  to  think. 
He  lived  away  in  a  corner.  If  there  were 
brilliant  lectures,  sacred  concerts,  exciting 
meetings  of  any  kind,  he  was  not  there.  If 
the  bell  tolled  for  a  great  man,  and  the  com- 


UNCLE  JERRY.  29 

munity  came  .together,  and  great  and  feeling 
tributes  were  paid  to  the  dead,  and  their  deeds 
recounted,  he  was  not  there.  If  a  revival  ot 
religion  was  powerful  in  the  town — as  it  was 
many  times  during  his  life — he  was  at  none  of 
the  meetings.  He  heard  only  of  a  "religious 
stir,"  but  it  never  stirred  him.  Now  we  know 
that  activity  of  mind  is  an  important  element 
in  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Take  our  colleges 
as  an  example  of  what  I  mean,  and  you  find 
that  there  is  no  class  of  young  men  in  society 
in  which  so  many  become  Christians,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  numbers.  One  reason  plainly 
is,  their  minds  are  awake  and  excited,  and 
hence  the  truth  and  the  Spirit  of  God  have 
materials  upon  which  and  with  which  to  work. 
Uncle  Jerry  jogged  on  in  the  same  beaten 
track,  without  ever  having  the  mind  startled 
or  quickened.  It  moved,  like  the  great  stone 
wheel  of  his  cider-mill,  in  the  same  groove. 

2.  He  had  no  religious  reading.  The  dif- 
ference between  the  mind  that  reads  and  is 
fed,  and  one  that  does  not,  is  amazing.  But 
on  Uncle  Jeny's  table  no  new  books  ever 
made  their  appearance.     No  new  magazines 


80  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

unfolded  their  attractions.  He  bought  the 
"Farmer's  Almanac"  once  a  year,  and  stud- 
ied the  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  and  saw  when 
the  storms  and  cold  were  predicted  to  come, 
and  that  was  all.  He  never  took  a  religious 
newspaper — I  mean  a  weekly  religious  paper ! 
I  have  certain  weaknesses,  doubtless — and  you 
may  call  this  one — but  I  have  the  strong  belief 
that  while,  to  many,  the  religious  paper  is  of 
little  value,  to  such  as  Uncle  Jerry  it  is  a 
means  of  grace.  Suppose  he  had  had  the 
large  clear-typed  religious  journal  come  to 
him  weekly,  and  he  had  read  it  aloud  in  his 
family,  and  had  talked  over  the  news  of  the 
state  of  the  church  coming  from  all  lands, 
the  communications  from  many  of  the  most 
gifted  minds,  extracts  from  the  most  impor- 
tant books,  biographies  of  the  most  devoted 
men,  the  labors  of  the  most  faithful  servants 
of  Christ,  the  results  of  yerj  careful  obser- 
vation on  all  points  pertaining  to  humanity, 
would  he  not  have  been  a  very  different  man  ; 
had  a  mind  more  alive  and  awake,  and  his 
sympathies  with  his  race  called  out  and 
warmed?     Would  not  the  Holy  Spirit  have 


UNCLE  JERRY.  31 

found  his  susceptibilities  more  awake,  and  his 
heart  a  much  larger  one?  As  it  was,  he  read 
nothing,  sa've  now  and  then  a  mumbling  over 
a  chapter  in  his  Bible.  He  thought  next  to 
none,  and  then  only  with  ver}'  feeble  thought. 
I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  it  might  not  be  written 
of  him.  This  man  lost  his  soul  for  the  want  of  a 
weekly  religious  paper /  The  next  consequence 
was  sure  to  follow,  namely,  that  he  never  went 
to  church  expecting  to  become  a  religious  man. 
He  never  united  with  the  church,  and  he 
never  expected  to.  He  never  had  family 
worship,  and  he  never  expected  to.  He  was 
never  interested  in  a  revival,  and  he  never 
expected  to  be.  He  connected  this  life  with 
the  next  b}-^  no  definite  thought,  or  plans,  or 
actions. 

Now  there  are  hundreds  of  families  who 
live  on  the  borders  and  in  the  corners  of  our 
towns,  who  are  living  just  as  Uncle  Jerry 
did,  only  they  don't  go  to  church  as  he  did. 
Many  of  them  can't  go ;  most  don't  try.  They 
want  something  to  excite  and  move  their 
thoughts.  They  will  come  out  to  a  "school- 
house  meeting"  now  and  then,  but  they  want 


32  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

something  to  keep  their  thoughts  from  mud- 
dling. And  T  give  it  as  the  result  of  an  anx- 
ious experience  and  observation,  that  no  one 
thing,  short  of  conversion  to  God,  would  be  so 
great  a  blessing  to  people  who  live  in  retired 
parts  of  a  country  town,  as  to  take  and  read  a 
weeJdy  7'eligious  paper. 


A  STING,  AND  ITS  CURE.  33 

V. 

h  ISting,  and  its  Cure. 

Most  of  my  readers  know  that  within  a 
few  years,  at  great  trouble  and  expense,  our 
apiarians  have  introduced  the  "Italian  bee" 
among  us.  It  is  said  that  the  first  queen  bee 
imported  cost  three  hundred  dollars.  It  is 
claimed  that  they  are  hardier  and  more  indus- 
trious, will  work  earlier  and  later,  will  defend 
their  home,  and  withal,  are  not  so  irascible 
as  the  common  bee.  To  much  of  this,  as  well 
as  to  their  beauty,  I  can  subscribe.  But  to 
the  last  commendation,  their  gentleness  and 
suavity,  I  cannot  assent.  I  have  had  too 
much  evidence  of  their  quick  pugnacity  to 
concur. 

But  I  took  up  my  pen  to  speak  of  another 
buzzing,  darting,  and  stinging  insect,  which 
seems  to  have  the  hardiness  and  fierceness  of 
the  white-faced  hornet,  and  the  quick  sting  of 
the  Italian.  It  is  known  by  different  names, 
as  "Gossip,"  "Slander,"  "Backbiting,"  etc. 

2* 


34  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

It  seems  to  frequent  all  houses,  and  is  at  hoiuo 
alike  in  tlie  liovel  and  in  the  saloon  of  the 
rich.  Who  does  not  fear  it?  And  who  has 
not  been  stung  by  it  ?  We  all  complain  of  it, 
fear  it,  and  yet  are  careful  to  gather  the  eggs, 
and  hatch  them  at  our  own  firesides.  Per- 
haps my  reader  can  recall  the  times  when  he 
has  smarted  under  its  infliction. 

Without  the  figure,  let  us  look  a  moment 
at  the  causes  of  so  much  evil-speaking,  gossip, 
or  slander,  even  in  Christian  communities. 

1.  It  is  easier  to  talk  about  people  and 
the  people  around  us,  than  about  any  thing 
else.  Let  two  neighbors  meet,  what  can  they 
talk  about  easily  ?  They  are  not  read  in  his- 
tory, they  have  no  science  to  discuss,  they 
are  not  posted  up  in  politics,  they  have  not 
any  great  questions  of  commerce  to  discuss, 
and  the  world,  out  of  their  own  circle,  is 
almost  unknown.  But  they  do  know  who  are 
moving,  who  are  making  new  purchases,  and 
what  is  going  on  around  them.  They  see 
every  movement  on  the  checker-board  before 
them.  If  Mr.  A  has  been  cheated  in  a  horse, 
if  Mr.  B  has  bought  a  very  poor  cow,  if  Mr. 


A  STING,  AND  ITS  CUBE.  35 

C  has  been  very  hasty  in  a  bargain,  if  Mrs. 
D  has  a  new  dress  that  is  "extravagant,"  or 
"awfully  homely,"  if  young  E  is  becoming 
rowclyish,  and  young  F  has  been  sent  home 
from  college,  and  if  Mrs.  G-'s  "help"  has  left 
her  in  "dudgeon,"  everybody  knows  it.  And 
why  should  not  everybody  talk  about  these 
things  ?  It 's  the  easiest  way  to  get  up  a  con- 
versation. It  is  not  of  course  malice,  nor  is 
it  intended  to  be  "meddling,"  but  it's  taking 
the  readiest  way  to  talk  about  something  which 
all  can  talk  about.  What  a  dry  world  it  would 
be  if  all  such  wells  were  closed  up.  And 
why  should  we  grudge  others  the  privilege 
which  we  claim  for  ourselves?  Let  them  talk, 
and  remember  they  cayiH  talk  about  any  thing 
else. 

2.  There  is  a  little  of  the  crab  in  us  all, 
so  that  we  do  not  swim  exactly  straightfor- 
ward. In  other  words,  every  man  has  his 
own  weak  spot,  and  there  is  the  shadoAv  of 
the  ludicrous  falling  upon  us  all.  So  that 
there  is  hardly  a  man  in  the  circle  of  your 
acquaintance,  concerning  whom  you  may  not 
tell  something  that  borders  on  the  ludicrous, 


36  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

especially  if  you  have  a  certain  knack  of  set- 
ting it  off.  These  weaknesses  are  common 
property,  and  are  sure  to  be  held  up  again 
and  again.  We  do  so.  Others  do  so.  And 
we  must  expect  it  to  be  so  concerning  our- 
selves as  long  as  we  live ;  and  even  after  men 
are  dead  and  buried,  these  remain,  the  only 
immortality  on  earth  which  many  have.  By 
repetition  and  accretions,  and  little  embellish- 
ments, a  small  mistake  or  a  small  weakness 
becomes  a  great  affair.  I  have  often  heard 
facts  stated  about  myself,  which  I  have  found 
very  difficult  to  identify  with  any  thing  in  my 
own  experience.     Do  n't  others  find  it  so  ? 

3.  There  is  also  in  the  human  heart,  even 
the  best  of  hearts,  something  of  jealousy  or 
envy  left,  and  though  we  would  not  "for  the 
world  "  injure  the  good  name  of  our  neighbor, 
yet  we,  unconsciously  to  ourselves,  find  it  dif- 
ficult not  to  let  the  weak  points  of  others  be 
known.  We  may  think  it  is  all  in  pure  good 
will,  or  that  we  are  only  paying  back  what 
we  receive,  or  it  may  be  we  don't  stop  to 
analyze  our  motives ;  but  the  fact  is  certain, 
much  of  the  evil-speaking  or  gossip,  grows 


A  STING,  AND  ITS  CURE.  37 

out  of  envy  or  jealousy.  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  people  are  seldom  conscious  of  this 
cause.  But  the  feeling  is  human,  that  if  we 
can  "  level  down,"  we  shall  do  the  same  thing 
as  if  we  had  elevated  ourselves.  If  Mr.  P 
or  Mrs.  R  have  such  and  such  weaknesses  or 
imperfections,  what  is  it  but  proving  that  we 
are  as  good  or  better  than  they?  If  young 
S,  who  is  to  marry  Miss  Jones  next  week,  is 
so  and  so,  and  we  shake  our  heads  gravely, 
and  "hope  it  will  turn  out  for  the  best,"  what 
is  it  but  saying  that  we  should  never  let  our 
daughters  run  such  awful  risks  ? 

Shall  I  now  as  briefly  mention  how  we 
can  do  much  to  cure  this  evil,  and  thus  pre- 
vent a  great  amount  of  hard  feeling  and  ill- 
blood  ? 

Remember  that  it  takes  two  to  slander  or 
gossip — one  to  speak,  and  at  least  one  to  hear. 
People  often  congratulate  themselves  that  they 
never  spread  the  report,  and  they  never  said 
the  hard  things  or  made  the  insinuations, j 
when  they  sat  and  with  greedy  ears  drank  it 
all  in  and  enjoyed  it,  and  the  speaker  and 
retailer  knew  they  enjoyed  it,  notwithstand- 


38  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

iug  the  feeble  "I  hope  it's  not  so,"  or,  "I 
can  hardly  believe  it,"  which  they  may  utter. 
If  none  were  encouraged  by  good  hearers,  all 
this  would  be  done  away.  Bear  in  mind  then, 
that  the  hearer  of  slander  may  often  be  more 
guilty  than  the  utterer,  seldom  less  so.  If 
you  want  to  cure  the  evil,  guard  your  ears  as 
well  as  your  lips. 

Set  a  guard  at  the  door  of  your  lips.  When 
you  cross  the  threshold  of  your  neighbor's 
door,  when  you  sit  down  at  your  own  table, 
make  the  solemn  resolution  that  you  will  say 
nothing  about  the  absent,  which  you  would 
not  be  willing  to  have  them  hear.  It  is  no 
less  needful  at  home  at  the  family  meal,  where 
a  severe  or  a  sour  or  an  envious  spirit  is 
often  created  and  nurtured,  thoughtlessly  no 
doubt  in  very  many  cases,  but  none  the  less 
injurious  for  that.  Happy  that  family  where 
the  table  is  the  place  of  pleasant,  instructive, 
and  social  intercourse,  without  the  drawback 
of  severity  or  the  alloy  of  bitterness. 

Resolve  that  whenever  you  hear  any  ill 
spoken  of  any  one,  you  will  say  something 
good  about  him;  there  is  no  one  concerning 


A  STING,  AND  ITS  CUBE.  39 

whom  you  cannot  honestly  do  this,  if  you  try. 
This  habit — and  I  have  known  such  as  never 
did  otherwise — will  sweeten  your  own  spirit 
and  that  of  the  company.  It  is  like  the  proph- 
et's casting  the  branch  into  the  bitter  waters. 
It  is  bringing  the  brazen  serpent  at  once,  as 
soon  as  the  serpents  begin  to  bite.  Make  it 
a  matter  of  conscience  to  see  what  arc  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible  in  regard  to  the  tongue  ; 
and  see  how  much  danger  it  carries,  what 
wounds  it  can  inflict,  what  flames  it  can  kin- 
dle, what  evils  it  can  create,  what  miseries  it 
can  entail.  Make  it  also  a  matter  of  earnest 
prayer,  that  you  may  set  a  guard  at  the  door 
of  your  lips,  and  become  a  perfect  man,  be- 
cause you  offend  not  with  your  tongue. 

What  shall  you  do  when  slandered?  Bear 
it  in  silence.  Don't  run  about  to  deny  or  to 
explain.  If  the  reports  are  in  any  measure 
true,  reform,  and  make  them  untrue  hereafter. 
Tins  is  a  kind  of  bee  that  you  cannot  fight. 
You  must  be  quiet  and  let  it  have  its  buzz, 
and  it  may  be,  sting.  But  suppose  there  is 
not  a  word  of  truth  in  it  ?  So  much  the  bet- 
ter.    It  will  be  very  easy  to  live  it  down  in 


40  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

that  case.  Eemember  that  a  falsehood  wont 
hurt  you.  It  is  what  we  Jo,  and  not  what 
people  say  we  do,  that  hurts  us.  So  long  as 
reports  are  not  founded  in  truth,  they  do  lit- 
tle hurt.  They  have  no  sting.  Never  be 
worried  at  any  thing  which  you  have  not  ac- 
tually done.     A  great  truth  that. 


HOME   MISSIONS  AT   HOME.  41 

VI. 

Home    Missions  at   Home. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  problems  which  a 
pastor  has  to  ponder  over  is,  how  to  carry  the 
gospel  to  that  part  of  our  population  who  at- 
tend no  church.  The  uniform  testimony  is. 
that  only  from  one-third  to  one-half  of  the 
jieople  attend  upon  the  services  of  the  sanc- 
tuary. I  may  have  ray  church  crowded,  and 
every  seat  in  it  taken,  and  yet  leave  a  great 
mass  outside  who  have  no  Sabbath  home,  and 
no  i)lace  of  public  worship.  We  have  two 
classes  of  these :  first,  those  who  live  away 
from  the  centre  of  the  town  or  ^village ;  and 
secondly,  the  foreign  population.  These  are 
usually  gathered  into  families,  and  parents 
and  children  are  alike  neglected.  For  the 
last  few  years  there  have  been  anxious  in- 
quiries, "What  shall  we  do  to  carry  the  gos- 
pel to  the  destitute  among  ourselves?"  The 
question  is  not,  Are  they  necessarily  destitute? 
we  must  accept  the  fact.     That  my  brethren 


42  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

iu  the  ministry  very  extensively  and  deeply 
feel  this,  I  have  evidence  enough  from  numer- 
ous letters  I  have  received  on  the  subject, 
and  from  public  documents.  May  I  therefore 
venture  to  throw  out  a  few  hints  to  my  minis- 
terial brethren,  and  to  their  churches  ?  I  will 
try  to  do  it  in  such  a  way  that  no  one  will  feel 
the  power  of  censure. 

Many  towns  were  laid  out  when  it  was 
thought  that  it  would  require  a  great  deal  of 
land  to  support  a  few  families.  I  have  been 
told  that  in  olden  times  a  committee  from  the 
legislature,  having  gone  over  and  viewed  a 
territory,  reported  that  they  thought  the 
"said  territory"  might,  at  furthest,  support 
^^  thirty  families."  There  are  now  nearly  or 
quite  forty  thousand  on  "the  said  territory," 
and  room  enough  for  more.  A  town,  we  will 
suppose,  is  six  miles  square.  This  takes  the 
outer  line  of  boundar}^  three,  and  the  corners 
four  miles  from  the  centre.  The  ark  and  the 
sanctuary  are  in  the  centre,  and  the  light  from 
the  golden  candlestick  reaches  about  two  miles 
from  the  centre :  that  is,  all  within  a  radius  of 
two  miles  are  most  likely  to  go  to  public  wor- 


HOME  MISSIONS  AT  HOME.  43 

ship.  Then  beyond  that  is  the  third  mile — a 
territ(3iy  into  which  those  who  have  less 
means,  or  energy,  or  ambition,  the  discour- 
aged and  the  peculiar,  flow  and  settle.  They, 
for  some  reason  or  other,  have  not  the  energy 
or  tlie  means  to  keep  up  with  the  rest  of  the 
town.  New  buildings  and  new  paint  and 
marks  of  thrift  are  not  abundant.  The  popu- 
lation settles  down,  and  this  generation  is 
much  like  the  preceding.  Then  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  next  town  is  a  similar  belt  and  a 
similar  population,  making  a  belt  of  two  miles 
in  width  around  every  town,  where  the  power 
of  the  gospel  cannot  well  penetrate.  It  is 
here,  awaj"  from  the  eyes  of  the  multitude, 
the  Evil  One  tempts  the  men  to  roam  the 
fields,  to  iish  in  the  streams ;  and  the  women 
and  children  to  dress  up  somewhat,  and  talk, 
or  to  spend  the  Sabbath  in  reading  a  very  lit- 
tle and  sleeping  much.  But  comparatively  few 
from  these  belts  wait  on  God  in  his  sanctuar}- ; 
and  it  is  in  these  belts  that  we  find  the  great 
numbers  who  do  not  attend  church. 

Then  again,  we  have  a  large  foreign  popu- 
lation, chietly  in  factories,  who  have  few  sjm- 


44  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

patliies  with  us,  and  have  little  to  do  with  our 
Sabbath  privileges.  What  our  duties  to  this 
class  are,  I  do  not  propose  to  speak  of  in  this 
place.  I  shall  confine  myself  to  our  native 
population.  How  shall  we  give  the  gospel  to 
those  who  do  not  voluntarily  come  to  the 
house  of  Grod?  To  that  point  I  wish  to 
speak. 

For  more  than  thirty  years  of  country 
pastorship  I  have  given  my  thoughts  and 
anxieties  to  this  question,  and  have  made  not 
a  few  experiments. 

Knowing  the  want  of  reading,  I  have  tried 
many  ways  of  reaching  them  through  the 
press.  One  jear  I  procured  and  had  sold 
three  hundred  Christian  Almanacs  in  as  many 
different  families.  The  next  year,  more  still. 
For  years  I  went  into  the  monthly  tract  dis- 
tribution, and  saw  that  every  family  in  town 
willing  to  receive  one,  should  have  it  monthly. 
In  a  time  of  revival  I  had  eight  hundred  of 
"Baxter's  Call  to  the  Unconverted"  distrib- 
uted in  a  single  week.  Another  week  I  had 
eight  hundred  of  "  Edwards'  Sabbath  Man- 
ual" distributed  into  as  many  families.    Then 


HOME  MISSIONS  AT  HOME.  45 

I  have  tried  religious  papers,  weekly  or 
monthly.  It  may  be  true,  and  probably  is 
true,  that  there  were  results,  great  and  many, 
from  all  these  efforts,  which  will  not  be  known 
till  the  last  great  day.  But  so  far  as  I  kncv/ 
them,  they  fell  far  short  of  my  hopes ;  and 
these  experiments  were  made  during  a  long 
number  of  years,  and  in  different  towns. 

One  can  see  that  if  we  could  get  this  popu- 
lation to  come  to  the  centre  and  attend  pub- 
lic worship,  our  end  would  be  better  accom- 
|)lished.     And  why  can  we  not  do  that  ? 

Because,  first,  most  of  these  families  are 
not  religiously  trained.  They  have  not  the 
Christian  conscience.  You  have  no  capital  to 
trade  with.  Then  many,  very  many,  really 
can't  get  to  the  meeting  in  the  centre.  I 
speak  especially  of  women  and  children.  If 
the  father  of  a  family  cannot  or  will  not  pro- 
vide a  team  and  drive  it,  what  can  his  family 
do  ?  You  may  say  that  if  a  silver  dollar  were 
to  be  placed  in  the  pew  of  each  one  every 
time  he  went  to  the  house  of  God,  they  would 
all  be  there.  So  they  would;  but  the  argu- 
ment is  hardly  a  fair  one,  inasmuch  as  they 


46  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

may  well  reply,  "  Give  us  the  dollar,  and  we 
could  tlien  have  the  meaus  to  be  carried  to 
the  church."  You  may  say  that  very  many 
more  might  go  than  now  do.  That  is  also 
true  ;  but  very  many  really  can't  go.  They  arc 
aged,  they  are  feeble,  they  are  females,  or 
they  are  children.  Sometimes,  here  and  there, 
a  family  lives  in  this  belt  who  do  and  will  get 
out,  and  are  true  and  faithful  at  church ;  and 
very  precious  people  they  are.  But  are  they 
not  the  exceptions  ?  In  the  snowy,  stormy 
regions,  all  the  winter  they  are  shut  up ;  and 
even  in  the  heat  of  summer,  I  have  often  seen 
and  pitied  females  walking  three  or  four  miles 
to  and  from  church. 

The  more  you  become  personally  acquaint- 
ed with  the  people  in  these  outer  districts,  the 
more  will  your  sympathies  be  drawn  out  tow- 
ards them,  the  more  you  will  feel  that  they 
have  many  real  excuses  which  you  have  never 
thought  of.  They  are  not  called  together  often 
enough  to  draw  out  and  cultivate  the  social 
principle ;  they  have  no  occasions  to  arouse 
and  move  them ;  they  have  not  the  taste  and 
the  cultivation  to  enable  them  to  draw  from 


HOME  MISSIONS  AT  HOME.  47 

books ;  tlicy  arc  in  a  slow  world  by  tliein- 
selves.  They  are  usually  kind,  inoffensive, 
simple  people ;  tliej^  do  n't  feel  a  positive  re- 
pugnance to  the  gospel,  for  they  don't  come 
in  contact  with  it  so  as  to  feel  the  pricking  of 
the  sword.  They  are  just  what  you  and  I 
would  be,  brought  up  as  they  were,  and  living 
where  they  do.  I  have  seldom  received  the 
least  insult  from  one  of  them.  But  they  are 
there,  without  being  reached  by  the  gospel: 
how  shall  we  reach  them?  In  my  next  I 
shall  touch  the  middle  of  the  question. 


48  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

VII. 

fioME    Missions  at   Home. 

He  who  studies  the  human  heart  and  labors 
to  do  it  good,  grows  more  and  more  deeply 
impressed  with  the  wisdom  of  God  in  using 
the  human  voice  as  the  great  instrument  of 
doing  his  work.  An  angel  would  make  a  poor 
preacher,  because  his  heart  and  ours  could 
not  be  brought  into  sympathy.  The  sympathy 
of  the  heart  is  the  great  human  instrument  of 
doing  good.  Hence  a  warm,  blundering  man 
will  often  make  more  friends  and  influence 
men  far  more,  than  a  cold,  correct  man,  with 
double  his  talents. 

There  are,  to  my  mind,  but  two  hopeful 
methods  of  adequately  reaching  the  outskirts 
of  our  towns.  These  are  by  the  ministry,  and 
by  the  church-members.  To  explain  what  I 
mean,  I  give  our  method — not  claiming  that  it 
is  the  wisest  or  the  best,  but  as  the  best  we 
have  found.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  estab- 
lishhing  meetings  all  over  a  town  in  a  sea- 


HOME  MISSIONS  AT   HOME.  49 

son  of  revival.  But  we  want  something  that 
shall  be  constantly  and  uniformly  acting  on 
tlie  population.  In  such  times  too,  there  is 
no  diflieulty  in  getting  the  "brethren"  to  go 
out  and  attend  prayer-meetings.  The  diffi- 
culty is,  they  soon  stop.  The  experience  of 
my  life  leads  me  to  say,  I  have  never  known 
any  meeting  to  be  maintained  from  year  to 
year,  zmless  the  jninister  ivas  in  the  habit  of 
heiny  present. 

We  have  in  this  town  twelve  district 
school-houses,  each  of  which  is  more  than  a 
mile  from  the  centre,  and  where  the  people 
want  religious  meetings  —  especially  preach- 
ing. We  have  four  ministers,  of  three  denom- 
inations,, who  cheerfully  unite  in  this  work. 
Every  Tuesday  evening  there  are  four  meet- 
ings and  sermons  in  the  outer  parts  of  the 
town.  We  follow  each  other,  going  round 
with  the  sun,  regularly.  The  man  who 
})reache6  in  the  east  school-house  to-night, 
knows  he  is  to  go  to  the  next  south  of  that 
next  week.  This  gives  each  district  a  sermon 
once  in  three  weeks.  Then  we  preach  a  lec- 
ture in  the  centre  on  Wednesday  evening,  and 


50  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

attend  our  prayer-meetiDg  oe  Friday  evening. 
In  this  way  we  give  all  parts  of  tlie  town  an 
opportunity  to  hear  the  gospel.  Every  week 
we  form  some  new  acquaintance  among  them. 
Every  week  we  gain  a  little  in  the  confidence 
and  love  of  the  community,  and  every  week 
the  people  feel  more  and  more  that  they  are 
not  outsiders.  I  do  not  believe  a  single  word 
has  been  dropped  by  any  minister,  on  these 
occasions,  by  which  you  would  know  to  what 
denomination  he  belonged. 

My  brethren  will  say  that  this  is  a  heavy 
burden  to  lay  upon  them,  in  addition  to  all 
that  they  now  have  to  do.  I  allow  it.  And 
yet,  if  they  do  n't  do  it,  nobody  will,  and  we 
shall  go  on  mourning  that  so  many  of  the  peo- 
ple neglect  the  house  of  G-od.  There  are  two 
ways  of  lightening  this  burden,  and  at  the 
same  time  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the 
meetings.  Suppose  the  pastor  has  to  go  forty 
times  a  year  to  these  preaching  places.  Let 
him  select,  say  ten  of  his  best  men,  Christian 
men,  and  who  have  Christian  horses,  and  ask 
them  to  agree  to  go  and  carry  him  to  these 
meetings,  each  in  his  turn.     It  will  be  one  a 


HOME  MISSIONS  AT  HOME.  61 

month.  This  is  a  very  imjwrtant  j^oint.  First, 
the  pastor  has  a  good  visit  with  his  friend,  in 
going  and  coming.  Secondly,  it  greatly  en- 
courages the  people  in  the  school-house  to 
see  a  layman  with  the  pastor.  They  feel  that 
one  more  heart  sympathizes  with  them.  And 
thirdly,  it  does  much  to  save  the  life  of  the 
minister.  I  have  caught  more  terrible  colds 
after  having  preached  in  the  heated  school- 
house,  and  then  having  to  drive  home,  than  in 
any  other  way.  After  speaking  in  the  even- 
ing, it  is  not  ver}^  safe  to  ride  some  three  or 
four  miles ;  and  especially  not,  unless  you  can 
wrap  up  warm.  I  fear  my  brethren  often  suf- 
fer so  much  in  this  way,  that  they  dread  the 
very  thought  of  the  exposure.  The  kind 
friend,  who  does  not  have  to  preach,  is  com- 
paratively safe.  I  have  found  my  young  mcL 
very  cheerful  and  ready  to  go  with  me  thus 
And  I  presume  every  church  would  furnist 
all  that  are  needed. 

Another  point.  I  have  often  gone  to  a 
school-house,  off  at  a  distance,  and  found  that 
we  could  have  no  singing,  because  we  had  no 
hymn-books.     Perhaps  there  would  be  one 


62  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

book,  Methodist,  or  Baptist,  or  Coiigrcgation- 
alist  in  its  origin.  And  we  can't  contrive  to 
sing  with  one  book ;  and  a  meeting  without 
singing  is  ruined.  If  the  people  can't  take 
part  enough  in  it  to  sing,  it  is  a  dead  set,  and 
the  meeting  is  apt  to  be  lost.  To  remedy  this, 
I  procured  a  beautiful  black- walnut  box  which 
will  just  hold  fifteen  of  the  "Songs  of  Zion," 
a  little  book  of  hymns  and  music,  published 
by  the  American  Tract  Society.  I  find  this 
number  sufficient.  Having  a  handle  to  my 
box,  it  is  very  portable.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  meeting  I  distribute  the  books,  and  at  its 
close  have  them  handed  back — to  be  used  the 
next  week  somewhere  else.  ■  The  preaching 
should  be  very  plain,  clear,  simple,  and  warm. 
You  must  talk  with  the  same  confidence  and 
love  you  would  in  j'^our  family,  and  you  will 
gain  and  carry  their  sympathies. 

But  the  second  thing  needed  is,  as  many 
Sabbath-schools  in  these  districts  as  you  can 
possibly  attend  to.  They  are  appendages  to 
the  central  school.  They  are  shoots  of  the 
same  tree.  We  have  more  in  number  in  these 
mission  schools  than  we  have  in  the  centre  of 


HOME  MISSIONS  AT  HOME.  53 

the  town.  I  think  ahnost  any  church  conld 
readily  double  the  number  of  her  pui)ils. 
Every  district  Avould  furnish  more  than  attend 
the  day  school.  The  difficulty  is  not  to  find 
scholars,  but  teachers.  To  each  mission  school 
there  should  be  a  superintendent;  and  gen- 
erally he  had  better  be  from  the  centre. 
Some  of  these  would  need  an  infant  class. 
Beautiful  gems  are  these  schools,  for  a  church 
to  wear  as  an  ornament  to  her  neck. 

Were  I  to  attempt  to  mark  out  a  plan  by 
which  to  reach  the  destitute  among  us,  I 
would  have, 

1.  A  meeting  statedly,  as  often  as  the  min- 
isters could  attend  them,  in  every  school- 
house  that  is, over  a  mile  or  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  centre. 

2.  These  meetings  not  to  be  more  seldom 
than  once  in  three  weeks. 

3.  I  would  have  some  good  Christian 
brother  always  take  the  pastor;  and  if  he  is 
a  singer,  so  much  the  better. 

4.  I  would  have  a  Sabbath-school  estab- 
lished in  every  such  district.  Why  is  it  not 
as  much  needed  as  the  day  school? 


64  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

5.  I  would  have  a  good  book-caee  in  each 
school-lionse,  under  a  strong  lock  and  key. 
The  book-case  should  contain  a  library  suffi- 
cient for  the  population,  children  and  adults, 
and  also  hymn-books  enough,  so  that  parents 
and  children  could  learn  to  sing.  I  believe  I 
have  never  failed  to  have  singing  in  such  a 
meeting  when  we  had  books. 

Such  is  as  near  the  plan  I  want  as  I  can 
describe,  with  one  very  important  addition: 
/  loould  have  the  active  Christians  of  the  several 
churches  unite,  and  once  a  year  visit  every  family 
in  the  town,  and  talk  kindly  about  their  souls, 
and  where  not  forbidden,  pray  with  and  for 
them.  The  good  that  may  be  done  in  this 
way  is  incalculable.  Had  I  room  I  should 
love  to  narrate  some  of  our  experience  in  this 
line  of  labor.  It  is  like  pouring  the  water  of 
life  over  a  whole  community. 

Some  have  said  that  if  you  carry  these 
meetings  to  these  outer  places,  it  will  satisfy 
them,  so  that  they  will  never  want  to  come  to 
church  on  Sabbath.  My  own  experier.ce  does 
not  teach  me  so.  My  Sabbath  congregations 
are  never  so  full  as  when  I  am  laboring  most 


HOME  MISSIONS  AT  HOME.  55 

for  the  remoter  parts  of  the  town.  Giving 
them  a  little  bread  does  not  make  them  satis- 
fied with  that  little. 

It  has  been  said,  It  will  do  no  good  ;  these 
labors  do  not  result  in  the  conversion  of 
sonls,  at  least  not  often.  I  reply,  Suppose  it 
be  so ;  suppose  you  go  and  preach  thus  year 
after  year,  and  not  a  soul  is  converted ;  the 
fact  that  you  have  offered  them  salvation  is  abun- 
dant compensation.  Having  done  this  truly, 
kindly,  and  faithfully,  jow.  have  discharged 
3^our  duty,  and  will  receive  your  reward. 

It  will  do  no  good  to  say,  and  keep  saj-- 
ing,  "We  must  do  something  for  our  destitute 
population."  Here  is  a  plan  which  you  can 
try,  and  drop  it  the  moment  jow.  devise  a 
better  one.     But  do  something :  do  it,  do  it. 

It  will  do  no  good  to  exhort  your  church 
"rouse  up;"  here  is  something  definite  for 
them  to  do.  Will  they  do  it?  If  they  will, 
they  will  grow  warm  hj  the  exercise.  If  they 
will  not,  how  much  of  vitality  have  they? 

While  we  rejoice  over  the  sheep  in  the 
fold,  let  us  also  think  much  about  those  scat- 
tered on  the  mountains. 


56  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

VIII. 

puP^  f 


RIENDS. 


In  one  of  the  volumes  of  Walter  Scott's 
writings,  he  represents  a  Highland  chief  on 
trial  for  his  life  for  treason.  It  was  most 
manifest  that  he  had  staked  his  all  upon  the 
throw,  and  must  now  lose  his  head.  Just  be- 
fore receiving  his  sentence,  one  of  his  clan — 
the  clan  of  Mclvor — rises  up  and  urges  that 
he  and  other  poor  fellows  may  be  put  to  death, 
and  their  young  chieftain  spared.  And  from 
what  we  know  of  the  strong  attachment  of 
these  once  wild  clans,  we  have  no  doubt  that 
a  dozen  would  have  been  ready  to  die  for  the 
natural  head  of  the  clan.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  love  of  the  chief  to  his  clan  was  hardly 
less.  He  would  impoverish  himself,  and  di- 
vide his  last  loaf  of  barley  bread  with  his  fol- 
lowers, and  even  lay  down  his  life  for  them. 

The  human  heart  wants  some  one  to  sym- 
pathize with,  to  counsel  with,  and  to  confide 
in  and  love.     A  dog  can  meet  but  a  part  of 


OUR  FRIENDS.  67 

these  wants ;  but  even  lie  makes  himself  be- 
loved. We  want  to  give  and  to  receive.  This 
is  called  "having  a /nbzc?/"  and  when  found, 
the  heart  has  found  a  treasure. 

Lord  Bacon  says  that  the  friendships  in 
the  world  are  very  few.  Acquaintances  are 
made  and  forgotten  all  the  way  through  life, 
and  many  go  through  life  without  any  thing 
more,  without  ever  knowing  the  high  and 
beautiful  and  almost  sacred  meaning  of  the 
word  friend.  In  the  early  and  rude  states  of 
society,  when  strength  of  body,  or  fleetness  of 
foot,  or  animal  courage,  is  the  standard  of 
manhood,  the  one  who  can  protect  the  feeble, 
defend  the  weak,  and  command  the  wavering, 
is  the  national  leader.  These  qualities  are 
accepted  as  friendship.  The  weak  one  loves 
the  strong  because  he  can  defend  him ;  and 
by  an  organic  law  of  our  nature,  the  strong 
one  loves  those  whom  he  protects. 

So  strong  is  the  yearning  of  the  human 
heart  for  a  true  friend — one  in  whom  you  can 
confide,  who  can  sympathize  with  3'ou,  to 
whom  3'ou  can  reveal  the  secrets  and  the 
weaknesses   of   the    heart,    who   will   betray 

3* 


58  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

nothing  because  he  loves  you,  who  will  sym- 
pathize with  all  your  secret  troubles — that  the 
highest  stations  of  earth  will  not  exempt  men 
from  the  craving.  Kings  and  emperors,  queens 
and  empresses  want  such  a  friend ;  and  it  is  a 
curious  fact  that  the  deepest,  purest,  warmest 
friendship  is  often  between  men  in  all  respects 
very  unequal.  Indeed  warm  friends  are  very 
seldom  equals ;  kings  do  not  select  kings  for 
their  friends.  When  Jonathan,  heir  to  a 
crown,  wants  a  friend,  he  does  not  seek  him 
among  the  princes,  but  finds  him  in  David, 
the  stripling  son  of  a  shepherd.  Their  friend- 
ship was  a  model :  Jonathan  would  strip  him- 
self of  his  kingdom  for  his  friend,  and  yet 
David  loved  him  the  most  and  wept  the  lon- 
gest as  they  separated,  never  more  on  earth  to 
renew  their  friendship.  When  David  comes 
to  the  throne  he  wants  a  friend,  but  he  does 
not  select  a  king,  nor  Ahithophel,  the  wisest 
man  of  his  generation ;  but  Hushai,  the  friend 
that  ventured  his  life  for  him,  and  whose 
friendship  never  waned  nor  abated.  Even 
Solomon — the  wise,  the  great,  the  rich,  and 
the  splendid — needs  a  friend.     He  selects  no 


OUR  FRIENDS.  69 

monarch ;  but  takes  Zabucl  the  son  of  Nathan 
as  his  bosom-friend.  Alexander  had  the  same 
yearning  of  heart;  but  among  all  his  brave 
generals  he  finds  none :  it  is  Parmenio  whom 
he  admits  to  his  bosom.  The  fact  that  thou- 
sands have  been  deceived  by  having  the  chosen 
friend  prove  false,  docs  not  in  the  least  pre- 
vent our  seeking  for  friends.  It  is  remarkable 
that  Paul,  one  of  the  most  unselfish  hearts, 
and  one  who  lived  as  far  above  the  ordinary 
wants  of  humanity  as  any  one  ever  did  live, 
felt  this  same  need,  and  selected  Timothy, 
"none  other  like-minded,"  "his  own  son  in 
the  faith,"  as  his  friend.  And  it  is  affecting 
to  hear  him  calling  for  this  friend  to  come  unto 
him  during  his  last  imprisonment  at  Pome. 
"  The  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand."  "Do 
thy  diligence  to  come  unto  me."  We  have 
often  wondered  whether  Timothy  did  reach 
him  before  he  was  "  offered,"  and  hear  his  last 
counsels,  and  witness  his  last  devotions.  And 
it  is  still  more  remarkable  that  our  Saviour, 
instead  of  living  in  the  solitude  of  his  own  in- 
finite nature,  had  his  human  sympathies  in 
such  activity  that  he  selected  John,  the  most 


CO  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

amiable  of  all  his  disciples,  to  be  his  bosom- 
friend. 

When  I  say  that  the  human  heart  yearns 
for  some  one  true  friend,  I  do  not  by  any 
means  intend  to  affirm  that  every  one  has 
found  that  friend.  Some,  having  been  deceiv- 
ed or  forgotten  by  those  whom  they  loved,  go 
through  life  friendly  to  all,  with  kind  words 
to  all,  yet  keeping  the  chambers  of  the  heart 
empty,  not  finding  any  guest  whom  they  wa^it 
to  install  there.  And  as  civilization  advances, 
and  as  artificial  manners  increase,  the  instances 
of  real  heart  friendships  will,  I  fear,  be  fewer 
and  rarer.  Such  a  state  of  society  keeps  those 
who  are  equals  together,  and  compels  them 
to  associate  together ;  whereas  the  strongest 
friend  you  will  ever  find  will  be  greatly  jour 
superior  or  your  inferior.  These  inequalities 
may  be  inequalities  of  talents,  of  education, 
position,  or  wealth,  or  any  thing  else.  Daniel 
Webster  and  John  Trout  were  warm  friends. 
The  strong,  bullying  school-boy  will  often  take 
to  some  feeble,  puny  fellow,  and  they  become 
fast  friends.  The  nobleman,  from  his  position 
shut  away  from  friends,  makes  his  valet  his 


OUR  FRIENDS.  61 

friend ;  and  a  king  has  been  known  to  do  this 
of  his  barber. 

The  offices  of  a  friend  are  among  the  most 
difficult  that  we  can  be  called  upon  to  per- 
form. You  want  a  friend  for  sympathy,  and 
he  must  therefore  have  a  warm  heart;  you 
want  him  for  advice,  and  he  must  therefore 
have  a  sound  judgment;  j^ou  want  him  to 
know  what  to  all  others  are  unknown — the 
very  secrets  of  j^our  heart ;  you  want  him  to 
bear  with  your  weaknesses  without  being  dis- 
gusted, with  your  moods  and  nervousness 
without  being  offended  or  wearied.  He  must 
have  courage  and  conscience,  or  else  he  will 
not  hel})  you  to  amend  your  faults  and  sup- 
press your  infirmities ;  he  must  have  a  deep 
watchfulness,  or  else  he  will  not  cheer  you 
when  you  need,  and  commend  you  when  you 
do  well ;  he  must  have  skill  to  encourage  you 
when  you  waver  or  grow  weak,  keep  you  from 
acting  on  impulses,  and  the  manliness  to  de- 
fend you,  as  far  as  is  right,  when  assailed,  or, 
to  excuse  you  where  he  may  not  defend.  Sol- 
omon describes  such  a  one  in  few  w^ords:  "A 
friend  lovcth  at  all  times" — when  we  are  in 


62  HINTS  AND    THOUGHTS. 

prosperity,  and  when  we  are  in  adversity; 
when  we  are  admired,  and  when  we  are  scorn- 
ed ;  when  we  are  courted,  and  when  neglected ; 
when  in  riches,  and  when  in  poverty ;  in  joy, 
or  in  sorrow  ;  elated  or  depressed  ;  agreeable 
or  dyspeptic ;  for  sometimes  the  tides  and  the 
winds  will  all  be  in  jonr  favor,  and  sometimes 
they  will  set  against  you.  He  "  loveth  at  all 
times."  We  fear  not  many  would  meet  this 
definition.  "A  brother  is  born  for  adversity," 
but  ' '  there  is  a  friend  who  sticketh  closer  than 
a  brother  ;"  that  is,  in  the  hour  of  our  troubles 
we  naturally  turn  to  our  relations,  our  blood 
relations,  and  yet  there  is  such  a  thing  as  "a 
friend"  who  will  do  more  for  us  than  our  own 
relations.  How  many  young  men  in  setting 
out  in  life,  how  many  amid  the  changes  and 
troubles  of  life,  turn  to  the  friend  for  assistance 
and  relief  rather  than  to  relatives.  When  Job 
was.  in  his  deepest  sorrows  his  own  relatives 
all  forsook  him,  and  it  was  his  three  friends 
who  came  to  comfort  him. 


WHY  WE  LOSE  OUR  FRIENDS.  03 

IX. 

Why  We  Lose  Our  Friends. 

One  of  the  most  sad  things  in  our  earthly 
experience  is,  that  we  must  lose  friends.  We 
seldom  make  a  friend  through  our  design  and 
planning,  but  we  ariS  thrown  into  the  society 
of  this  and  that  one,  and  there  is  something 
between  us  that  draws  us  together.  For  the 
want  of  a  better  name,  we  call  this  sympathy. 
We  hardly  know  how  or  why  we  are  drawn 
together,  and  it  is  sometimes  a  long  time  be- 
fore we  know  where  the  line  between  acquaint- 
ance and  friendship  lies.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  our  friend  be  of  the  same  age,  of  the 
same  temperament,  or  the  same  any  thing. 
His  traits  of  character  may  be  the  very  oppo- 
site of  ours.  We  need  make  no  special  effort 
to  make  friends,  but  ratJier  to  keep  them  when 
made. 

We  lose  our  friends  in  four  different  waj^s. 

First,  by  death.  Few  mourners  are  more 
sincere  than  those  who  mourn  the  death  of  a 


64  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

true  friend.  The  most  beautiful  elegy  in  human 
language  was  over  a  friend,  David's  lament 
over  Jonathan.  As  we  advance  in  life,  one 
and  another  drop  away,  and  if  not  careful, 
we  shall  be  left  like  the  heath  in  the  desert 
when  the  waters  are  dried  up. 

Secondly,  we  lose  them  by  separation.  For 
a  time  we  are  near  them,  and  see  them  often, 
and  converse  with  them,  or  we  write  them 
often.  But  new  cares  and  duties,  labors  and 
anxieties  crowd  in  upon  us,  new  relations  are 
formed,  and  new  scenes  open  upon  us.  We 
determine  to  retain  our  friends,  but  our  time 
is  occupied,  and  gradually  and  almost  inevita- 
bly our  friends  fade  from  our  memories,  not 
wholly,  but  certainly.  A  few  years  makes 
the  beautiful  writing  which  they  placed  on  our 
heart  very  faint.  We  regret  it,  and  are  asham- 
ed of  it,  and  mourn  over  it ;  but  if  the  pros- 
pect is  that  we  shall  never  live  near  them 
again,  we  despair  of  recovering  what  we  have 
lost.  How  different  we  feel  about  retaining 
the  friendship  of  one  who  has  gone  to  Europe 
for  a  few  months,  from  what  we  feel  if  Ave 
know  he  never  expects  to  return  ? 


WHY  WE  LOSE  OUR  FRIENDS.  65 

Thirdly,  we  lose  our  friends  by  forming 
new  ties.  This  is  especially  true  of  woman 
when  she  comes  into  the  married  relation. 
The  young  wife  takes  her  pen  to  write  to  her 
"dear  Lavinia,"  but  she  at  once  feels  that 
they  have  now  very  little  in  common.  She 
feels  that  it  would  be  almost  sacrilege  to  allow 
any  one  to  live  between  her  and  her  husband. 
But  this  is  not  precisely  what  I  mean.  I  mean 
that  the  new  ties  between  husband  and  wife 
bring  so  many  new  duties  and  responsibilities, 
and  so  many  delightful  hopes  and  promises, 
that  the  heart  naturally  gathers  around  these, 
and  shuts  out  all  others.  And  the  young  hus- 
band and  wife  will  permit  me  to  drop  an  im- 
portant remark ;  and  that  is,  that  as  the  mar- 
riage relation  so  commonly  and  so  necessarily 
cuts  away  all  other  ties  and  confidences,  and 
gives  the  heart  and  the  soul  no  counsellor  but 
the  life  companion,  how  important  that  they 
be  fitted  for  each  other — that  the  wife  should 
be  qualified  b}^  disposition,  education,  and 
training,  to  take  the  place  of  all  other  friends, 
and  be  qualified  to  be  a  sympathizer,  an  ad- 
viser, and  an  assistant,  so  that  by  her  judg- 


66  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

ment  she  can  counsel,  hy  lier  courage  sustain, 
by  her  gentleness  soften,  and  by  her  unselfish 
affection  cheer  and  comfort.  It  is  the  man 
who  is  to  nieet  the  storms  of  life,  and  manage 
and  do  all  the  rough  labors  of  earth,  and  who 
will  be  thwarted  and  troubled  by  the  strong 
swimmers  whom  he  will  encounter;  and  he 
needs  a  friend.  If  he  finds  it  in  his  wife,  he 
may  never  tell  of  his  obligations  to  her,  but 
he  will  be  successful.  If  he  finds  it  not,  he 
will  go  through  life  shut  up  in  his  own  icy 
heart,  an  Iceland  without  its  grandeur. 

Fourthly,  we  lose  our  friends  by  our  own 
ingratitude.  Can  you  not  recall  the  man 
who  has  greatly  befriended  you  in  days  that 
are  gone  by,  who  assisted  you  to  what  you 
needed  and  when  you  needed  ?  But  a  sense 
of  obligation  is  painful.  The  hardest  thing 
for  the  human  heart  to  do  is  to  be  grateful, 
and  the  next  hardest  thing  perhaps,  is  to  be 
willing  to  acknowledge  obligation  and  mani- 
fest gratitude.  Hence,  many  friends  have  been 
dropped,  in  order  to  escape  a  sense  of  obliga- 
tion. On  the  other  hand,  the  heart  is  some- 
times so  chilled  by  this  want  of  gratitude,  so 


WHY  WE  LOSE  OUR  FRIENDS.  07 

grieved  to  see  it  a  burdcu,  that  it  drops  what 
it  called  a  friend.  The*  fact  that  we  do  meet 
with  ingratitude  where  we  had  hoped  to  find 
love  and  confidence,  is  unquestionable.  We 
are  disappointed  and  chilled,  and  think  we 
shall  hardly  try  again  to  manifest  kindness. 
The  story  of  the  cuckoo  exactly  illustrates 
what  we  have  too  often  witnessed  in  our  own 
observation : 


"The  spring  was  come,  and  the  nest  was  made, 
And  the  little  bird  all  her  eggs  had  laid, 
WTien  a  cuckoo  came  to  the  door  to  beg 
She  would  kindly  adopt  another  egg  ; 
For  I  have  not  leisure,  upon  my  word, 
To  attend  to  such  things,  said  the  roviug  bird. 
There  was  hardly  room  for  them  all  in  the  nest, 
But  the  egg  was  admitted  along  with  the  rest ; 
And  the  foster-buxls  played  their  part  so  well, 
That  soon  the  young  cuckoo  had  chipped  the  shell : 
For  the  silly  birds,  they  could  not  see 
That  their  foster-chick  their  plague  would  be  ; 
But  so  big  and  saucy  the  cuckoo  grew. 
That  no  peace  at  last  in  the  nest  they  knew  : 
He  pecked  and  he  hustled  the  old  birds  about ; 
And  as  for  the  young  ones,  he  jostled  them  out, 
Till  at  length  they  summoned  their  friends  to  their  aid. 
Wren,  robin,  and  sparrow,  not  one  delaj-ed. 
And  joining  together,  neighbor  with  neighbor, 
They  di"Ove  out  the  cuckoo  with  infinite  labor. 
But  the  cuckoo  was  fledged,  and  laughed  to  see 
How  they  vainly  traced  him  from  tree  to  tree  : 
They  had  nursed  him  so  well,  he  was  grown  tho  stronger, 
And  now  he  needed  their  help  no  longer." 


68  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Moral,  to  our  purpose : 

"Give  no  place,  or  power,  or  trust  to  one 
"WTio  will  make  an  ill  use  of  what  he  has  won  ; 
For  when  you  have  reared  the  cuckoo-guest, 
'T  will  be  hard  to  drive  him  out  of  the  nest ; 
And  harder  still,  when  away  he 's  flown, 
To  hunt  down  the  cuckoo,  now  fuUy  gro-mi." 

Among  the  frequent  and  beautiful  mj'ste- 
ries  which  we  meet  in  the  Bible,  is  this  yearn- 
ing of  the  soul  after  something  which  we  call 
friend.  It  is  the  soul  feeling  after  something 
without  herself.  We  can't  call  it  a  mark  of 
human  weakness,  because  it  is  something  which 
the  Son  of  God  himself  felt.  "All  ja  will 
forsake  me  this  night,  and  leave  me  alone  ; 
and  yet  I  am  not  alone,  for  the  Father  is  with 
me."  Can  no  nature  be  so  exalted  that  it 
will  not  need  some  one  to  love,  and  by  him 
be  loved  again?  Is  this  a  reason  why  the 
archangel  loves  to  minister  to  the  feeblest 
child  of  the  dust,  and  why  the  angels  carried 
the  spirit  of  Lazarus  to  Abraham's  bosom,  and 
\why  the  angels  of  little  children  are  spoken 
of  as  being  in  the  presence  of  God,  that  is,  all 
created  beings  in  heaven  love  even  the  little 
child  in  its  feebleness  ? 


WHY  WE  LOSE  OUR  FRIENDS.  69 

And  what  is  more  wonderful  still,  the  infi- 
nite God  himself  manifests  this  same  yearning 
of  the  heart.  Three  times  he  calls  Abraham 
his  "friend."  More  than  once  Christ  calls  his 
disciples  "friends;"  and  does  not  this  feeling, 
which  probably  runs  through  all  creation,  and 
which  exists  in  the  Godhead,  enter  into  the 
great  fact  that  God  loved  and  redeemed  this 
world  ?  Does  it  not  lie  at  'the  foundation  of 
all  that  holds  societ}^  together  ?  It  is  as  old 
as  time,  and  probably  as  old  as  eternity.  It 
is  deeper  even  than  the  marriage  relation.  It 
was  this  that  brought  the  Son  of  God  from 
the  bosom  of  the  Father,  that  he  might  make 
and  raise  up  friends  whom  he  could  love,  and 
who  would  eternally  love  him. 

We  can't  understand  this,  because  we  can't 
love  two  friends  alike,  and  equally.  Our  na- 
tures are  too  limited.  Not  so  with  God.  He 
can  love  uncounted  friends ;  and  thus,  out  of 
all  ages  and  nations  and  languages,  he  can 
gather  friends,  "a  multitude  which  no  man 
QiA\  number."  They  will  all  be  friends.  And 
how  beautifully  does  the  gospel  give  us  a 
friend  to  love,  the  Bridegroom  of  the  heart, 


70  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

who  lias  loved  us,  and  does  love  us,  and  will 
love  us,  to  whom  we  may  confide  all  our 
secrets,  who  will  bear  our  burdens,  share  our 
sorrows,  and  comfort  our  griefs.  Ah,  yes ;  the 
soul  yearns  after  a  friend,  and  thus  she  will 
find  one,  and  be  with  Him,  nearer  and  nearer 
to  him  for  ever.  It  is  not  such  an  emotion  as 
exists  between  husband  and  wife,  parent  and 
child,  brother  and  sister.  It  is  what  we  term 
friendship,  for  the  want  of  a  better  term ;  that 
which  made  Christ  die  for  his  own,  and  which 
makes  them  take  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their 
goods,  and  to  rejoice  that  they  are  accounted 
worthy  to  suffer  for  his  name's  sake.  And 
to  eternity  will  this  reci23rocal  affection  grow 
and  increase,  and  will  bring  us  into  commun- 
ion with  Christ,  firm  as  the  throne  of  Grod, 
permanent  as  eternity,  and  sweet  as  the  wa- 
ters which  flow  in  rivers  of  joy  at  Grod's  right 
hand. 


A  MINISTER  WANTED.  71 

X. 

A   /VLiNiSTEF^  Wanted. 

Thriftyville  wants  a  minister.  They  arc 
looking  far  and  near  to  find  one ;  but  they 
want  the  "right  man."  Thriftyville  is  not 
one  of  your  old,  effete  places.  It  is  a  place 
grown  up  quickly  on  Rapid  river,  in  the  beau- 
tiful valley  of  Eureka.  It  is  a  very  important 
place,  standing  directly  over  the  centre  of  the 
earth,  so  that  if  a  hole  were  dug,  and  a  stone 
drq:)ped  into  it,  it  would  pass  through  the 
very  centre  of  this  great  world.  It  has  a 
growing  population,  and  boasts  of  "a  circle  of 
verij  intelligent  people."  Moreover,  it  seems 
to  be  "  the  centre  of  a  great  moral  influence," 
and  it  now  wants  a  minister  second  to  none. 
They  want  to  get  the  society  out  of  debt,  to 
repair  the  old  wastes  which  time  has  alreadj^ 
made  in  their  half-built  sanctuary,  to  gather 
in  the  young,  to  "draw"  a  full  house,  and  to 
make  the  concern  every  way  prosperous  and 
respectable,  and  easy  to  support. 


72  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Now  for  the  qualifications  desired.  They 
are  so  few  and  simple,  that  "the  right  man" 
probably  stands  at  your  elbow ! 

Item.  He  must  be  a  man  mature  in  intel- 
lect, and  ripe  in  experience  ;  and  yet,  so  young 
that  all  the  young  people  will  rush  after  him. 

Item.  He  must  be  quick,  ardent,  flashing, 
nervous  in  temperament,  so  that  he  may  kin- 
dle quick  and  burn  bright,  prompt,  read}^, 
and  wide  awake ;  and  yet  a  man  of  the  most 
consummate  prudence,  whose  nerves  shall 
never  be  unstrung,  nor  out  of  tune. 

Item.  He  must  be  a  man  of  great,  burning 
zeal,  so  that  he  can  startle,  arouse,  and  kin- 
dle, and  move  the  congregation;  and  yet,  so 
cautious,  so  cool,  that  he  is  always  safe,  calm, 
self-possessed,  unperturbed. 

Item.  He  must  have  the  power  to  awaken 
and  arouse  the  church ;  and  yet,  let  them  be 
quiet  and  look  on  while  he  does  all  that  is 
done  for  Christ. 

Item.  He  must  urge  and  move  men,  and 
lead  the  whole  people  to  salvation,  and  get 
them  all  into  the  church ;  and  yet  be  so  judi- 
cious that  he  can  make  a  difference  between 


A  MINISTER  WANTED.  73 

the  chaff  and  the  wheat,  and  let  none  but  real 
converts  into  the  fold. 

Item.  He  must  be  strong  and  original  in 
the  pulpit,  and  bring  none  but  beaten  oil 
there ;  and  j^et,  be  at  leisure  to  receive  any 
call,  any  interruption,  be  prepared  for  every 
occasion,  and  like  the  town  pump,  never  suck- 
ing for  water,  or  giving  out  dry. 

Item.  He  must  be  a  workman  who  shall  go 
down  deep  into  the  mines  of  truth,  and  quarry 
out  its  pillars,  and  set  them  up,  and  make  men 
come  and  wrestle  around  them ;  and  yet,  the 
most  gifted  man  in  light  conversation,  and  on  all 
that  floats  in  the  every-day  world  around  him. 

Item.  He  must  have  health,  so  that  his 
body  never  wearies,  his  nerves  never  quiver, 
a  real  specimen  of  muscular  Christianity ;  and 
yet,  a  hard,  severe  thinker,  a  close  reasoner, 
and  a  most  diligent  student,  getting  his  books 
from  any  Quarter. 

Item.  He  must  be  poor  in  this  v/orld's 
goods,  to  show  that  money  is  not  his  object, 
and  so  that  he  can  sympathize  with  the  poor, 
and  can't  help  feeling  humble  and  dependent ; 
and  yet  his  family  must  be  the  most  hospita- 


74  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

ble,  and  entertain  more  company  than  any 
other  in  town ;  his  children  must  be  second  to 
none  in  education  and  training ;  they  must  be 
respectably  dressed ;  he  must  give  away  more, 
and  more  cheerfully,  than  any  man  in  the 
place,  not  even  excepting  Esquire  Rich  him- 
self, and  his  family  must  all  be  models,  in  all 
respects,  for  the  community. 

Item.  He  must  be  a  man  who  can  be  per- 
manent, thought  vastly  superior  to  Dr.  Solid 
of  the  next  town,  who  has  been  with  his  flock 
over  thirty  years ;  and  his  congregation  must 
hear  the  same  voice,  on  the  same  subject,  sev- 
eral times  every  week  ;  and  yet  he  must  come 
every  time  as  original,  as  fresh,  as  glowing  as 
if  it  were  done  but  once  a  year. 

Item.  He  must  be  able  to  live  in  a  glass 
house,  always  acting  in  public,  coming  in  con- 
tact with  all  sorts  of  men  and  of  prejudices, 
so  original  that  all  will  respect  and  fear  him ; 
and  yet  never  odd,  eccentric,  morosr,  repul-= 
sive,  or  awing  in  manners.  He  should  have 
the  lofty  attributes  of  an  angel,  with  the  sym- 
pathies, the  gentleness,  and  softness  of  the 
little  child. 


A  MINISTER  WANTED.  75 

Item.  lie  must  be  always  ready,  lofty, 
keyed  up  to  do  the  best  possible ;  and  yet  so 
calm  in  spirit  and  word  and  look,  that  nothing 
can  disturb  the  repose. 

Item.  He  must  never  preach  so  that  the 
people  are  not  proud  of  him  when  they  have 
a  stranger  in  their  pew,  or  so  that  the  echo  of 
his  sermon  shall  not  come  back  when  he  goes 
abroad ;  and  yet,  every  sermon  must  be  so 
beautiful,  that  all  the  young  people  will  ad- 
mire it  and  wonder  over  it,  and  the  little 
child  can  carr}"  it  all  home  and  repeat  it  to 
her  grandmother. 

Item.  His  wife  must  be  the  model  of  all 
models.  She  must  be  young  and  handsome, 
but  not  indiscreet  or  vain.  She  must  be 
worthy  of  the  admiration  of  all  the  people, 
and  yet  be  really  the  humblest  of  all.  She 
must  watch  and  discipline  and  prune  and  lead 
and  make  her  husband  the  embodiment  of  all 
excellence,  but  she  must  never  be  aware  of 
her  power,  lest  she  become  overbearing.  She 
must  be  the  model  of  a  lady,  have  a  fair  face 
and  white  hands,  though  compelled  to  do  all 
the  work  of  lier  fanaily.     She  must  be  ready 


76  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

to  meet  everybody  with  a  smile,  take  lier 
hands  from  the  flour  at  any  moment,  wear  a 
checked  apron,  and  still  be  dressed  like  a 
lady.  Her  face  must  never  be  otherwise  than 
cheerful,  her  head  must  do  its  achings  in  se- 
cret, and  she  must  give  none  occasion  to  call 
her  extravagant,  or  to  call  her  mean.  She 
must  be  able  to  alter  the  same  dress  four 
times,  turning  it  thrice,  and  fitting  it  to  a 
smaller  child  each  time.  She  will  be  expect- 
ed to  be  the  very  life  of  the  great  Dorcas 
Society,  the  most  zealous  member  of  the  All- 
Labor  Society,  the  very  backbone  of  the  Ma- 
ternal Association,  the  warm  leader  in  the 
Female  Prayer-meeting,  the  head  and  mover 
in  the  Eeading  Circle,  and  the  visitor-general 
of  the  poor.  She  will  be  expected  to  be  at 
all  the  prayer-meetings,  and  let  how  many 
soever  brethren  be  present,  she  will  be  looked 
to  to  set  the  tune  for  each  hymn.  As  she 
receives  no  salary,  of  course  her  other  qualifi- 
cations are  not  so  important,  though  the  above 
are  essential. 

Item.  The  minister  must  be  sound  in  doc- 
trine, able  to  lay  his  hands  on  the  foundations 


A  MINISTER  WANTED.  77 

of  truth,  to  fortify  Jiiid  (lefciid  the  hill  of  Zion  ; 
and  yet,  must  never  preach  the  old-fashioned 
doctrines.  They  arc  not  spicy.  They  are  not 
taking.    They  will  never  "drav/"  a  full  house. 

Item.  It  is  rather  desirable  that  he  should 
be  a  pious  man,  and  one  who  loves  his  Mas- 
ter; and  yai,  as  this  article,  piety,  has  not 
acquired  great  value  in  Thriftyville,  it  would 
be  well  for  him  not  to  make  that  too  obtru- 
sive. 

Such,  in  few  words,  is  the  man  they  want 
for  Thriftyville.  If  they  can  light  on  him, 
they  will  paj^  five  hundred  dollars  annually ! 
and  not  let  it  run  behind  unreasonabl3\  This 
is  not,  to  be  sure,  half  what  their  clerks  re- 
ceive, but  they  think  that  the  minister,  if  he 
be  only  the  "right"  man,  can  "manage"  to 
live  on  it.     Who  is  ready  ? 

N.  B.  All  applicants  must  put  an  extra 
postage-stamp  in  the  letter,  or  it  will  receive 
no  attention. 


78  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Spiritual    Indigestion. 

We  sometimes  meet  witli  one  who  has  a 
fair  appetite,  no  sallowness  in  the  face,  no 
alarming  congh,  no  hectic  flush  on  the  cheek, 
and  yet  he  gradually  grows  weak,  and  seems 
to  waste  away,  we  hardly  know  how.  It  is 
plain  that  he  does  not  digest  his  food,  and 
assimilate  it  with  the  sj^stem.  One-half  of 
what  he  eats,  could  it  be  made  into  flesh  and 
bone,  would  make  him  a  strong  man.  The 
physician  perhaps  prescribes  stimulants,  and 
they  give  a  momentary  renewal  of  strength, 
but  it  does  not  abide.  The  man  wastes  faster 
than  he  renews. 

It  seems  to  be  so  with  some  churches. 
There  is  the  church  in  Oldenville,  which  I 
have  known  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury. They  have  had  six  pastors  in  a  little 
more  than  twenty  jeavs,  and  are  now  without 
a  pastor.  These  six  men  have  carried  there 
and  spread  over  the  people  a  great  variety  and 


SPIKITUAL  INDIGESTION.  79 

a  great  amount  of  mind.  Some  of  tlicm  liave 
been  eminent  men,  and  none  inferior.  They 
have  had  the  slow  and  the  quick,  the  phleg- 
matic and  the  mercurial,  the  heavy  columbiad 
and  the  light  artillery.  Sometimes  they  have 
taken  stimulants,  in  the  shape  of  revivalists 
and  extraordinary  measures — had  spiritual 
spasms.  But  still  the  church  and  congrega- 
tion do  n't  grow  strong.  There  are  good  men 
among  them — ver}^  good  ;  but  as  a  body,  they 
are  apparently  weaker  from  year  to  year. 
They  have  had  first-rate  preaching  as  a  gen- 
eral thing,  but  from  some  cause  or  other,  their 
spiritual  digestion  is  not  good.  They  don't 
grow  strong,  don't  feel  strong.  A  spiritual 
lassitude  rests  upon  them.  They  have,  I  fear, 
depended  upon  stimulants  too  much.  They 
seem  to  have  forgotten  that  stimulants  are  for 
men  "ready  to  perish,"  and  tonics  are  hot 
really  food ;  that  galvanizing  a  man,  though  it 
may  make  him  open  his  eyes  for  a  moment, 
and  even  laugh,  does  not  give  him  life.  They 
want  the  power  to  digest  all  the  good  preach- 
ing which  they  have  had. 

Will  the  good  people  of  Oldenville  take  it 


so  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

kindly  if  I  give  them  a  hw  hints  how  they 
may  get  out  of  this  state ;  for  unless  they  do 
get  out,  they  will  be  as  weak,  to  say  the  least, 
a  quarter  of  a  century  hence  as  they  are  nov/. 
If  I  tell  them  some  hard  truths,  I  will  try  to 
tell  them  in  a  soft  way. 

1.  Get  yon  a  pastor  as  soon  as  may  be, 
but  not  in  such  a  hurry  that  you  take  a  man 
whom  you  have  heard  but  once.  The  relation 
between  pastor  and  people,  like  that  between 
husband  and  wife,  should  be  founded  on  ac- 
quaintance, esteem,  respect,  and  love.  Don't 
depend  on  hiring  a  preacher  by  the  month,  or 
by  the  year.  Depend  upon  it,  such  a  man,  be 
he  ever  so  good,  will  leave  you  at  the  first 
good  call,  or  at  the  first  cold  wind  that  blows 
over  and  among  you.  He  cannot  have  the 
power  of  a  pastor,  cannot  feel  like  one,  pray 
like  one,  act  like  one,  be  like  one.  No  man 
but  a  pastor  can  pray  with  a  pastor's  heart. 
If  you  have  ever  known  a  church  and  society 
grow,  under  this  system  of  hiring  different 
men  and  for  short  periods,  your  experience 
has  been  different  from  mine. 

2.  I  would   counsel  you  to  get  a  young 


SriRITUAL  INDIGESTION.  81 

man  for  your  next  pastor.  To  be  sure  he  will 
be  a  young  man,  and  very  likely  he  will  make 
mistakes,  and  very  likely  you  will  miss  that 
maturity  of  thought  and  teaching  which  you 
have  had  so  long,  and  which  seems  to  have 
done  you  so  little  good.  But  he  will  have 
courage,  and  he  will  have  zeal,  and  he  will 
not  be  trammelled  bj^  experience,  and  he  will 
move  onward.  But  there  is  a  thought  of  more 
worth  than  all  this,  and  that  is,  a  j^oung  man 
can"  get  at  and  influence  the  young  as  no  other 
can.  The  youth  loves  to  read  Henry  Kirkc 
White  because  White  Avas  a  youth,  thought  as 
a  youth,  and  wrote  as  a  youth.  In  many  cases, 
I  should  advise  a  church  to  seek  a  full-grown, 
mature  mind  in  their  pastor.  But  you  need  a 
young  man.  And  when  you  get  him,  you  must 
bear  with  him,  make  allowances  for  his  inex- 
perience, and  feel  sure  that  the  wear  and  tear 
of  life  will  make  him  conservative  enough  ere 
long.  Remember  that  the  three  great  laws  of 
health  are,  plain  diet,  regular  exercise,  and  the 
open  air.  Therefore  do  n't  put  your  minister 
up  to  make  great  mental  strains,  and  to  give 
you  great  "intellectual  treats."     If  he  aives 

4* 


82  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

you  plain  instruction,  and  not  too  much  at 
once,  it  is  all  you  require. 

3.  Encourage  your  minister,  when  you 
have  one,  to  give  you  expository  preaching 
one-half  of  every  Sabbath,  It  will  seem  dull 
at  first,  but  in  a  short  time  you  will  relish  it — 
the  sincere  milk  of  the  word.  Don't  wait  for 
the  milk  to  be  made  into  butter  and  cheese. 
Take  it  as  milk.  You  can  digest  this.  You 
have  had  too  much  labored,  anvil-wrought 
preaching.  The  stomach  is  in  an  abnormal 
state.  Expository  preaching  will  bring  it  back 
to  a  healthy  condition.  This  is  "the  plain 
food"  which  it  seems  to  me  you  require. 

4.  Encourage  and  aid  your  minister  to 
devote  much  of  his  thought  to  the  young,  the 
children  and  youth.  Excuse  me  if  I  hint  that 
he  can  make  of  these  something  which  he  can- 
not make  out  of  you,  something  unlike  you,  if 
possible.  Help  him  to  gather  them  into  the 
Sabbath-school,  and  into  the  Bible  class.  Let 
him  lay  the  foundation  of  what  will,  in  fifteen 
or  twenty  years,  become  a  strong  and  vigor- 
ous church.  His  very  youth  will  be  an  im- 
mense advantage  to  him  here.    It  is  his  hope. 


SPIEITUAL  INDIGESTION.  83 

5.  Then  for  "exercise"  and  "open  air," 
the  means  are  at  hand.  Come  out  more  will- 
ingl}',  promptly,  regular!}',  and  cheerfully  to 
3'our  ^Yeekly  prayer-meeting.  Go  to  work  in 
the  Sabbath-school ;  help  your  minister  to  es- 
tablish and  sustain  "mission  Sunday-sffhools " 
in  different  parts  of  your  town.  Keep  your 
library  full  of  books.  Let  the  children  through 
the  town  see  that  you  are  taking  them  up  in 
your  arms  and  blessing  them.  Take  air  and 
exercise  regularly  in  the  devotions  and  the 
activities  of  the  church.  You  are  rusting ; 
you  are  perishing  for  the  want  of  air  and  ex- 
ercise. How  few  of  you  go  to  the  prayer- 
meeting  ;  and  how  few  to  the  monthly  concert ! 
Up,  brethren,  take  air  and  exercise. 

6.  Give  more  liberally.  It  is  a  beautiful 
way  of  taking  the  air.  You  breathe  more 
freely  after  every  such  exercise  of  giving. 
Do  n't  do  it  by  spasms,  but  as  a  regular  thing. 
Your  prayers  will  be  better.  You  can't  send 
an  arrow  that  will  pierce  the  skies  if  3'our 
right  hand  is  employed  in  grasping  your 
purse.  "Give  without ^n<^^m^."  Alas,  how 
little  of  such  giving  is  there  in  the  world ! 


84  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

7.  Have  faith  in  the  gospel,  in  the  mission 
of  the  church,  in  the  i30wer  of  Christians  to 
reach  and  save  men.  You  are  tlie  light  of  the 
world ;  rekindle  that  light,  by  renewing  the 
oil.  To  work  then,  and  begin  at  the  bottom. 
And  then  ''they  that  shall  he  of  thee  shall  build 
the  old  waste  places :  thou  shalt  raise  up  the 
foundations  of  many  generations  ;  and  thou 
shalt  be  called,  The  repairer  of  the  breach, 
The  restorer  of  paths  to  dwell  in." 


A  MODEL  SUTEKINTENDENT.  86 

XII. 

A    Model    Superintendent. 

It  is  no  fancy  sketch  tliat  I  a  in  about  to 
draw.  Friends  may  overestimate  the  worth 
of  their  departed  friends ;  but  I  have  the  be- 
lief that  a  Christian  pastor,  who  is  cheered  by 
what  is  good  and  tried  by  what  is  evil  in  man, 
will  not  be  likely  to  fall  into  the  mistake. 

The  man  of  whom  I  am  speaking  has  lately 
been  called  away  from  us — cut  off  suddenly 
in  the  strength  of  his  manhood,  in  the  height 
of  his  usefulness,  and  in  the  fulness  of  the 
Christian  confidence  which  surrounded  him. 

He  came  to  us  from  the  city  of  New  York, 
where  he  had  long  been  engaged  in  the  ragged 
schools,  and  in  holding  up  the  cross — often 
alone — in  places  where  it  was  least  welcome. 
He  who  serves  a  long  and  faithful  apprentice- 
ship, will  be  most  likely  to  become  an  expert 
workman.  His  apprenticeship  had  been  in 
the  ravines  and  dark  places  which  are  found 
at  the  base  of  Mount  Zion,  and  many  were 


86  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

those,  who  belonged  to  that  city,  called  "sought 
out,"  and  whom  he  led  up  to  the  gates  of 
Zion. 

Picture  to  yourself  a  man  nervous  in  tem- 
perament, quick  in  every  movement,  with  a 
face  radiant  with  cheerfulness,  and  with  a 
bright  eye,  that  looked  as  if  it  never  wanted 
to  slumber — a  man  whose  heart  could  be,  and 
alwaj^s  was  warm,  without  the  drawback  of  a 
head  proportionabljMveak.  You  never  felt  a 
chill  in  the  atmosphere  where  he  was ;  you 
felt  that  you  were  breathing  air  untainted  by 
selfishness ;  and  you  knew  that  whatever  you 
asked  of  him — time,  money,  labor,  self-denial, 
or  any  thing  else  for  the  cause  of  Christ — you 
would  have  a  response  prompt,  quick,  and 
decisive,  I  never  made  a  request  of  him  to 
which  he  did  not  instantly  and  cheerfully  re- 
spond, and  my  great  fear  was  that  the  free 
horse  would  be  overworked,  that  we  should 
put  the  load  of  the  elephant  upon  a  back  really 
feeble.  I  fear  we  often  did  so.  Just  a  week 
before  he  died,  he  took  his  horse  and  carriage 
and  carried  me  to  a  distant  school-house, 
where  I  was  to  preach,  and  where  he  sung. 


A  MODEL  SUPERINTENDENT.  87 

Had  he  known  that  it  was  his  last  meeting,  he 
could  not  have  led  the  singing  more  tenderly 
or  beautifully.  I  did  not  know  then  that  his 
sweet  voice  would  so  soon  be  waking  the  notes 
of  praise  in  heaven. 

His  great  work,  with  us,  was  the  establish- 
ing and  maintaining  till  his  death,  a  model 
mission  Sabbath-school,  in  a  distant  part  of 
the  town.  How  soon  he  acquired  the  love 
and  confidence  of  the  parents  and  of  the  chil- 
dren. They  belonged  to  different  denomina- 
tions ;  they  were  born  in  different  countries ; 
but  he  gathered  them  all  into  Bible  classes, 
common  classes,  and  infant  classes.  There 
was  neither  Greek  nor  Jew  here.  I  doubt 
whether  it  occurred  to  him  from  Sabbath  to 
Sabbath  to  what  denomination  his  teachers 
belonged.  He  established  a  good  library, 
procured  singing  books  for  the  whole  school, 
and  instructed  them  all  how  to  sing.  It  was 
a  luxury  to  hear  that  school  sing ;  and  it  was 
a  very  touching  sight  when  that  school,  in- 
fants and  all,  attended  his  funeral,  and  stood 
in  two  rows,  as  his  body  was  carried  between 
them,   with    their  little  badges  of  mourning 


88  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

pinned  to  the  left  shoulder,  with  their  young 
heads  dropping  on  their  breasts,  and  their 
eyes  welling  over  with  tears  that  came  up 
from  the  heart.  There •  is  something  most 
beautiful  in  the  simple  and  sincere  tribute  to 
worth,  when  childhood  weeps.  Nothing  but 
unselfish,  kind,  and  cheerful  labor  can  procure 
such  a  tribute.  The  teachers  who  aided  him 
caught  much  of  his  wide-awake,  unselfish,  and 
gladdened  spirit.  When  all  things  else  were 
fading,  as  the  angel  of  death  entered  his  cham- 
ber, the  last  thing  he  inquired  for  and  about 
was  his  beloved  school. 

He  loved  children  without  having  to  try  to 
do  it.  That  kind  of  freemasonry  of  love  which 
children  are  quick  to  understand,  gathered 
them  around  him.  Hence  for  years  he  was 
the  mainspring  and  centre  of  the  large  "Band 
of  Hope  "  which  was  formed  here  to  aid  the 
cause  of  temperance.  Whoever  else  might 
droop  or  sag,  he  was  a  live  man — a  sort  of 
Christian  "Wide-awake."  He  loyed  the 
church,  he  loved  missions,  he  loved  ever}'- 
tree  that  grew  on  the  banks  of  the  Eiver  of 
Life,   whatever  might  be   the   shape  of  the 


A  MODEL  SUPERINTENDENT.  89 

leaves  that  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
When  gatliering  money  for  the  tract  cause — • 
for  this  department  was  especially  committed 
to  him — you  would  think  he  had  faith  in  this 
way  of  doing  good  alone;  so  at  the  concert 
for  prayer,  it  did  one  good  to  unite  with  him 
as  he  gathered  up  the  wants  and  sorrows  of 
the  human  family,  and  ])oured  thenr  out  be- 
fore the  throne. 

Doubtless  he  had  imperfections,  weak- 
nesses, and  faults ;  but  I  honestly  believe  that 
when  he  died  he  had  not  an  enemy  in  the 
world.  If  all  men  did  not  speak  well  of  him, 
none  spoke  evil.  If  he  had  not  the  highest 
human  perfection,  he  had  little  of  what  may  bo 
called  "drawbacks"  in  his  character.  When 
the  great  congregation,  on  the  week-day, 
gathered  at  his  funeral,  all  received  the  im- 
pression that  nothing  but  a  great  amount  of 
Christian  character  could  call  forth  such  a 
multitude,  and  nothing  short  of  great  worth 
could  win  so  much  respect  and  love.  AVhat  a 
beautiful  thing  it  is  to  live  in  the  resj^ect,  the 
confidence,  and  the  love  of  the  whole  commu- 
nity ;  and  what  a  character  is  produced  by  a 


90  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

long-continued  contact  with  children  !  It  soft- 
ens without  weakening ;  it  stamps  childhood's 
gladness  on  the  heart,  without  its  foibles ;  it 
bathes  the  spirit  in  fresh  dews,  and  keeps  the 
heart  warm  by  pure  love.  It  seems  to  me 
that  Moses'  face  would  always  have  shone, 
could  he  have  had  to  do  only  with  children. 

Our  loss  is  great.  Paul  had  many  helpers, 
good  and  true  men ;  but  of  Timothy  he  says, 
he  has  "none  other  like-minded."  His  tomb 
is  not  among  us,  and  the  little  feet  of  our  chil- 
dren cannot  walk  around  it ;  but  he  will  long 
live  in  our  memory,  the  earnest,  the  cheerful, 
the  loving  sujoerintendent  and  faithful  teacher. 
The  present  generation  will  not  cease  grate- 
fully to  remember  the  name  of  William  P. 
Warriner. 


KEEPING  THE  SABBATH.  91 

XIII. 

Keeping   the   jSabbath. 

We  should  all  like  to  have  somebody  do 
what  can  never  be  done,  that  is,  tell  us  just 
what  duties  we  are  to  perform  each  Sabbath, 
as  it  returns.  We  should  then  know  when 
we  had  kept  the  day  and  performed  our 
duty.  It  would  be  easy  to  know  when  we 
had  done  our  duty,  if  some  one  could  tell  us 
just  how  many  chapters  were  to  be  read,  just 
how  many  minutes  were  to  be  spent  in  secret 
prayer,  just  how  much  time  in  the  house  of 
God,  just  how  much  we  are  to  give  in  charity, 
and  the  like. 

We  can't  do  this.  We  can't  tell  you  just 
the  hour  you  shall  rise  or  go  to  bed,  what  you 
shall  eat  or  wear.  All  this  must  be  left  to 
the  conscience,  enlightened,  as  it  should  be, 
by  the  Bible.  The  circumstances  of  men  arc 
so  different,  that  what  one  does,  and  thereby 
fulfils  a  duty,  would  be  sin  in  other  circum- 
stances.    Who  could  teach  the  physician  to 


92  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

keep  the  Sabbath  by  rules?  A  very  good  but 
simple  Christian  once  said  to  a  sea-captain : 

"Sir,  I  trust  you  don't  sail  your  vessel  on 
the  Sabbath,  do  you?" 

"Oh  no,  I  tie  her  up  to  the  stump  of  a 
tree." 

No  rules  can  be  laid  down  for  the  sailor's 
Sabbath.  It  must  depend  on  the  storm  or  the 
calm,  and  on  things  which  no  one  can  control. 
So  the  mother  of  a  family  of  little  children, 
with  all  the  disorders  of  childhood  to  pass 
through,  cannot  always  go  by  rules.  Nor  can 
the  sick  man,  nor  even  the  minister  of  Christ ; 
it  is  his  hardest  day  of  labor,  and  he  keeps 
the  Sabbath  best  when,  with  a  right  spirit,  he 
works  the  hardest. 

But  if  we  cannot  all  have  specific  rules  and 
directions,  we  can  have  hints;  and  it  is  only 
two  of  these  that  I  now  propose  to  give. 

In  order  then  to  the  right  observance  of 
the  Sabbath, 

1.   You  must  have  an  enlightened  conscience. 

The  word  of  God  will  inform  you  when  the 
Sabbath  was  instituted,  and  why.  It  will  show 
you  that  it  is  not  a  Jewish  institution,  but  was 


KEEPING  THE  SABBATH.  93 

"made  for  man ;"  that  it  is  to  be  as  perpetual 
as  the  world  which  it  lifts  up  towards  God ; 
that  its  design  is  the  moral  culture  of  our  race, 
a  season  for  worship,  for  praise,  and  prayer, 
and  confession.  Our  notions  respecting  it  are 
not  to  be  taken  from  the  age  in  which  we  hap- 
pen to  live.  Every  age  has  its  own  driftings 
and  dangers,  which  are  sure  to  be  away  from 
the  Bible,  let  them  be  what  they  may.  The 
Bible  cannot  bend  to  the  age,  but  we  must  trj^ 
to  bring  the  age  to  the  Bible,  as  the  right  stand- 
ard. There  can  be  little  doubt  that  our  age  is 
drifting  towards  relaxed  views  in  regard  to  the 
Sabbath.  It  arises  from  the  state  of  the  coun- 
try, from  the  influx  of  multitudes  from  the  old 
world,  where  no  sacredness  is  associated  with 
the  Sabbath,  from  the  allurements  and  calls  of 
mammon,  from  a  craving  for  sensational  preach- 
ing, so  that  we  have  every  imaginable  and 
unimaginable  thing  advertised  to  be  preached 
at  this  i^lace  and  that  place  every  Sabbath, 
and  we  have  imitators  of  the  follies  which  men 
of  real  mind  continually  commit,  and  we  have 
not  a  small  class  of  preachers  to  whom  a  battle, 
a  fire,  a  great  railroad  accident,  or  a  huge  ship- 


94  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

wreck,  is  a  real  God-send  to  help  out  the  next 
sermon.  There  is  a  feeling  too,  with  many, 
that  it  is  very  important  not  to  seem  to  be 
rigid  and  Puritanic,  and  they  are  very  careful 
not  to  drive  the  world  off  by  too  tenaciously 
holding  up  a  holy  Sabbath.  They  tell  us  of 
the  awful  severity  and  rigidity  of  our  fathers, 
and  how  they  used  to  disgust  their  children 
by  the  gloomy  solemnity  of  the  Sabbath. 

I  must  say  here  that,  for  myself,  I  was 
brought  up  after  the  "most  straitest  sect"  of 
Puritans — Saturday  night,  catechism  in  the 
school  on  Saturday,  and  catechism  on  the  Sab- 
bath, a  small  piece  of  pie  for  dinner,  and  every 
worldly  thing  interdicted — and  yet  I  know  J 
was  never  disgusted  with  the  Sabbath.  On 
the  contrarj^,  it  made  an  impression  of  its 
sacredness  on  me,  for  which  I  thank  G-od,  and 
I  can  never  be  thankful  enough  for  this  train- 
ing. It  is  a  ver}^  easy  thing,  and  a  very  con- 
temptible thing,  to  sneer  at  our  fathers.  But 
it  is  wholly  unjust.  I  have  lately  seen  in  a 
religious  paper  the  old  story  of  the  boy  whom 
his  father  tied  to  a  bed-post  on  the  Sabbath, 
all  day,  and  the  boy  asking  if  there  were  any 


KEEPING  THE  SABBATH.  95 

bed-posts  ill  heaven ;  for  if  so,  he  did  n't  want 
to  go  there.  This  is  told  as  if  it  belonged  to 
a  Puritan  family  in  New  England.  I  have 
only  to  say,  that  when  a  boy  I  heard  it  told 
of  some  old  Scotch  Covenanter,  in  Scotland. 
And  I  presume  it  was  about  as  old  then  as 
now,  and  about  as  true.  I  don't  believe  a 
word  of  the  story.  And  yet  how  many  arc  so 
afraid  of  the  Puritan  Sabbath  that  they  read 
papers  and  magazines,  talk  on  all  manner  of 
things,  and  lay  no  restraint  on  their  families. 
And  I  sometimes  fear  there  is  less ,  con- 
science on  this  subject  than  on  almost  any 
other.  Is  the  conscience  enlightened  and 
obeyed  if  you  make  the  Sabbath  less  than 
one-seventh  of  your  time ;  if  joii  talk  about 
what  you  would  not  wish  Christ  to  hear;  if 
you  walk  abroad,  even  if  you  go  to  the  beau- 
tiful cemetery ;  if  you  read  what  you  would 
not  like  to  have  your  minister  see  you  read- 
ing ;  if  you  make  it  a  day  of  special  sleeping, 
so  that  you  can  chase  the  world  harder  the 
ensuing  w^eek ;  if  you  take  special  pains  with 
your  table,  so  as  to  disqualify  you  for  thought 
and  meditation ;  if  you  have  no  special  season 


96  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

for  private  worship  and  communion  with  God  ; 
if  you  are  aware  that  the  day  comes  and  goes, 
and  you  make  no  spiritual  improvement,  or  if 
it  is  a  weariness  rather  than  a  delight? 

2.  Feel  that  the  Sahhatli  is  all-important,  and 
to  he  honored  and  preserved  sacred. 

The  day  that  we  cease  to  regard  the  Sab- 
bath as  holy,  and  the  fourth  command  as  bind- 
ing as  any  one  of  the  ten,  will  be  calamitous 
to  us,  to  our  children,  and  to  our  countr3^  I 
do  beg  my  dear  brethren  in  the  ministry  not 
to  be.  afraid  to  hold  up  this  sacred  day,  and  to 
urge  it  upon  the  consciences  of  their  people ; 
and  I  do  solemnly  entreat  our  Christian  fami- 
lies not  to  foil  in  with  the  notion  that  "we  live 
in  a  new  day"  and  "an  enlightened  age,"  and 
"a  busy,  stirring  age,"  and  therefore  we  must 
relax  our  notions  in  regard  to  keeping  the 
Sabbath.  Our  children  will  turn  their  backs 
on  God  when  they  do  on  his  Sabbath.  France 
once  became  so  "enlightened"  that  she  tram- 
pled the  Sabbath  out  of  existence,  and  she 
became  at  once  a  cauldron  of  blood,  around 
v/hich  demons  danced  as  they  stirred  the  fires. 
Mammon  will  urge  Christians  to  fall  in  with 


KEEPING  THE  SABBATH.  97 

the  necessities  of  the  age,  and  run  cars  and 
steamboats,  and  make  visits,  and  in  hundreds 
of  ways  destroy  the  Sabbath.  Nothing  can 
now  save  it  as  a  holy,  sacred  day,  but  the  con- 
science of  Christians.  If  they  fail,  it  is  gone, 
and  I  have  no  hope  for  our  churches  or  our 
civil  institutions.  It  must  be  held,  not  as  a  day 
of  rest  and  teaching  merely,  but  a  day  holy 
unto  God.  The  day,  in  name,  will  live.  I  have 
no  fear  that  it  will  ever  cease  to  be  regarded, 
and  that  statedl}^;  but  to  answer  the  ends  of 
its  appointment,  it  must  be  sacred  and  holy 
time.  I  could  tell  some  facts  about  it  that 
would  make  the  heart  of  piety  ache.  We 
have  no  fear  that  infidelity  can  tear  it  from 
the  Bible,  and  make  the  world  believe  that  it 
has  not  God's  seal  upon  it ;  but  we  are  more 
afraid  that,  without  designing  it,  or  hardly 
knowing  that  they  are  doing  it,  the  people  of 
God  will  allow  our  headlong  age  to  cause  it  to 
drift  from  its  moorings,  and  be  made  to  rise 
and  fall  as  it  floats  on  the  waves  of  popular 
opinion.  Instead  of  being  a  time  to  let  down 
that  which  is  high  and  good,  the  present  is  a  sol- 
emn moment  in  the  world's  history ;  and  to  the 


98  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Sabbath,  the  very  sheet-anchor  of  this  fallen 
world,  we  should  cling  with  all  the  tenacity  of 
martyrs.  Don't  be  afraid  then  of  being  too 
particular  or  too  rigid  in  keeping  the  Sabbath. 
The  danger  is  all  the  other  way;  and  I  am 
more  than  glad,  I  am  thankful,  that  I  may 
believe  that  I  am  speaking  the  mind  and  the 
feelings  of  the  great  body  of  evangelical  min- 
isters in  uttering  my  earnest  cr}^  for  the  Sab- 
bath of  our  fathers. 


DULL  PRAYER-:\rEETINGS.  99 


XIV. 

How  TO  MAKE  oui^  Prayer-meeting  Dull 

The  weekly  prayer-meeting  is  an  old  in- 
stitution. Almost  every  cliurcli  has  it.  I 
might  give  its  origin,  its  uses,  its  benefits  to 
the  church  and  the  community.  There  are  a 
great  many  who  never  attend  it.  I  shall  not 
say  a  word  to  them  at  this  time.  But  many 
who  do  attend,  seem  to  contrive  to  make  it 
dull.  As  this  is  a  labor-saving  age,  it  occurs 
to  me  that  a  few  hints  might  help  them  to  do 
it  easil}^,  readil}-,  and  surely.  Please  remem- 
ber that  the  problem  is,  Jiow  to  make  our  pray- 
er-meeting dull,  and  that  I  am  telling  you  how 
to  do  it. 

Suppose  the  meeting  is  to  be  to-night. 
During  the  day,  don't  think  of  it,  don't  speak 
of  it,  don't  let  one  in  your  family  dream  thai 
you  think  of  it.  It  is  a  small  affair,  and  your 
thoughts  are  on  business  and  bargains  or  dress, 
or  some  great  affair.  When  night  comes,  see 
if  you  can't  find  some  excuse  for  staying  away. 


100  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Are  jou  not  very  tired?  You  have  been  at 
hard  work,  and  began  early.  You  must  feel 
tired.  Wont  that  excuse  you?  If  not,  are 
you  sure  you  don't  feel  unwell?  Have  you 
no  cold  coming  on?  If  not,  is  it  not  difficult 
to  leave  the  family?  Is  there  no  duty  at  home 
that  will  excuse  you  ? 

Inquire  if  it  is  really  your  duty  to  go. 
Everybody  cannot  go.  Why  should  it  be  jovly 
duty?  There  are  your  neighbors  A  and  N, 
who  never  go.  There  are  multitudes  who 
never  go ;  why  must  you  be  a  martyr  to  duty, 
and  be  always  expected  there?  You  have 
seen  the  horse  which  dreads  to  trot.  You 
touch  him  with  the  whip,  and  cry,  "Come, 
sir,"  and  he  hitches  and  rolls,  and  seems  to 
say,  "Now  must  I  trot  again?"  You  can  sym- 
pathize with  him,  can't  you  ?  You  know  too, 
that  the  meeting  will  be  thin  and  dull,  and 
you  will  not  feel  warm  and  happy ;  and  now, 
is  it  really  your  duty  to  go  ?  Dwell  on  this 
doubt  as  long  as  you  can,  and  then  if,  after 
all,  you  feel  that  you  must  go, 

Go  in  very  late.  It  shows  that  you  de- 
termined to  be  there,  at  all  events.     Take 


DULL  PRAYEE-MEETINGS.  101 

your  seat  down  near  the  door.  You  wont  be 
so  likely  to  be  called  on  to  "take  a  part." 
Do  n't  Christ  tell  joii  to  take  a  low  place,  and 
what  is  that  but  near  the  door,  behind  all  the 
rest?  The  leader  of  the  meeting  wont  be  so 
likely  to  see  you  there,  and  what  example  is 
more  beautiful  than  modesty ! 

Don't  feel  any  responsibility  about  the 
meeting.  Don't  go  to  your  closet  and  pray 
for  the  presence  of  Christ  before  you  go. 
Do  n't  lift  up  your  heart  for  the  presence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  while  on  the  way.  If  you 
are  a  singer,  be  sure  and  let  your  modesty 
have  full  play,  and  don't  sing.  If  you  are 
not  a  singer,  do  n't  feel  any  responsibility  to 
get  a  singer  or  two  there  ;  that  patient,  faith- 
ful sister  will  be  there,  and  she  will  turn  her 
anxious  face  at  every  opening  of  the  door,  to 
see  if  some  brother  who  can  lead  the  singing 
is  not  coming  in,  and  finding  none,  she  will 
set  the  tune  and  go  on,  as  she  has  hundreds 
of  times  before.  Why  should  you  feel  respon- 
sibility, when  she  is  evidently  growing  in  pa- 
tience and  meekness  under  a  burden  so  wrong- 
fully thrown  upon  you  ? 


102  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

If  called  upon  to  pray,  see  how  long  you 
can  be.  The  world  is  full  of  things  that  need 
praj^er,  the  Jews,  the  Grentiles,  the  Moham- 
medans, Papists,  Heathen,  and  the  like.  Bring 
them  all  in.  It  shows  how  3''0u  can  compre- 
hend all.  Then  there 's  ' '  the  patience  of  hope '' 
fully  exercised  before  you  get  through.  If 
you  have  any  particular  hobby,  be  sure  and 
ride  that.  Grive  the  Lord  the  whole  history 
of  it.  Tell  him  plainly  what  you  think  he 
ought  to  do  in  the  case,  and  exhort  him  to  do 
it.  Such  a  long  prayer  is  the  main  dish  of 
the  meal.  TJiere  's  little  room  for  much  more, 
and  you  know  too  much  variety  is  not  good. 
It  makes  "itching  ears." 

Perhaps  it  is  a  better  way  to  put  jouv 
head  down,  and  look  so  tired  and  indifferent 
that  the}^  will  not  dare  to  call  upon  3^ou,  lest 
they  find  you  asleep.  Sit  silent  as  long  as 
you  can.  There  's  great  power  in  silence.  It 
helped  Wolff  to  take  Quebec.  And  if  you 
sit  with  the  head  down,  how  do  they  know 
but  you  are  in  profound  meditation?  There 
may  be  more  passing  in  your  mind  than  they 
ever  dream  of.     Who  can  tell  what  notes  a 


DULL  PRAYER-MEETINGS.  103 

silent  harp  might  give  forth,  if  it  had  David's 
hand  to  wake  it  up  ? 

If  they  will  call  upon  you,  and  insist  on  it, 
that  you  "  say  a  few  words  to  us,"  then  by 
all  means  occupy  the  time  in  telling  how 
dead  the  church  is,  how  low  religion  is,  how 
sin  abounds,  and  be  sure  and  give  those  who 
are  not  present  a  sound  berating  for  their  ab- 
sence. It  shows  that  you  know  a  few  things, 
and  you  know  that  religion  will  never  revive 
so  long  as  the  prayer-meeting  is  so  poorly 
attended.  No  matter  if  you  have  been  harp- 
ing upon  this  for  years.  Are  we  not  to  give 
"line  upon  line?"  You  needn't  exactly  scold, 
but  come  as  near  it  as  you  can.  Put  on  the 
lash,  they  will  bear  it,  for — they  are  absent. 
And  how  comforting  and  encouraging  to  the 
faithful  few  who  do  attend,  to  have  you  always 
complaining,  and  gathering  all  the  thorns  and 
burrs  that  grow  on  mount  Zion.  The  reproofs 
of  the  righteous  are  like  oil;  pour  it  on,  and 
see  if  it  does  not  make  their  faces  shine  with 

joy. 

See  how  uniform  you  can  make  all  your 
meetings.     No  variety  in  singing,  in  tunes,  in 


104  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

those  tliat  take  part  in  it.  Never  relate  any 
thing  3"ou  have  read  or  heard.  And  when 
3^ou  go  home,  try  and  laugh  about  the  meet- 
iig,  how  dull  it  was;  what  miserable  singing ; 
how  Mr.  Black  went  over  the  same  prayer, 
and  Mr.  White  made  the  same  exhortation, 
and  Mr.  Hand  was  dull,  and  Mr.  Foot  was 
slow,  and  you  do  wonder  what  ails  the  meet- 
ings !  Be  sure  and  let  your  family  hear  you 
find  fault  with  every  thing  that  was  "  said  or 
sung,"  with  men  because  they  did  take  a  part, 
and  with  men  because  they  did  not.  Speak 
of  your  meetings  in  such  a  way  that  saint 
and  sinner  will  be  afraid  to  go  near  them. 

I  might  extend  these  directions  much  fur- 
ther. But  "enough  is  as  good  as  a  feast;" 
and  I  feel  certain  that  if  these  hints  are  faith- 
fully followed,  you  will  have  no  cause  to  com- 
plain because  your  prayer-meeting  is  not  dull 
enough ;  and  if  you  are  not  grateful  to  me  for 
the  aid  I  have  given,  may  it  not  be  because 
you  fear  it  will  be  found  out  where  you  got 
your  power — to  make  the  prayer-meeting  dull! 


INTERESTING  PRAYEK-MEETINGS.  105 

XV. 

ffow  TO   Make  oui^  Prayer-meeting 
Interesting. 

We  sympathize  deeply  with  the  true  and 
the  faithful — not  a  large  number  in  any  church — 
who  are  always  at  "our"  prayer-meeting,  and 
who  wish  they  knew  how  to  make  it  more  in- 
teresting. You  want  to  know  how  to  bring 
live  coals  to  the  altar  as  you  go  to  waken  its 
fires.  You  want  not  merely  to  enjoy  more, 
but  to  have  others  enjoy  more ;  and  jou  want 
this  meeting  'to  be  an  instrument  of  doing  your 
church  and  the  community  good.  How  shall 
you  aid  ? 

Let  the  weekly  prayer-meeting  live  in  your 
heart.  Think  of  it  when  in  your  business ; 
when  yoa  read  j'our  Bible,  and  see  if  you  do 
not  light  upon  a  beautiful  text  to  carry  there ; 
when  you  read  the  religious  paper,  and  see  if 
you  do  not  find  some  thought  or  some  anec- 
dote or  some  fact  which  you  can  use  in  the 
meeting.     See  if  you  can't  gather  a  few  drops 

5* 


106  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

of  the  dew  which  falls  on  Hermon.  You  may 
not  be  a  theologian  or  a  genius,  but  you  can 
do  something,  if  you  will  think  of  it  before- 
hand. You  can  utter  a  thought  in  a  few  mo- 
ments, which  cost  you  perhaps  days  to  think 
out.  A  single  thought  tliat  has  been  revolv- 
ing in  your  mind,  may  be  valuable  in  propor- 
tion as  it  has  been  thought  over.  The  pebble 
which  David  chose  Avas  one  that  had  been 
washed  and  smoothed  in  the  brook  a  long 
time.     It  was  all  the  better  for  its  polishing. 

On  the  day  of  your  meeting,  do  n't  forget  to 
think  about  it ;  mention  it  in  your  family  wor- 
ship ;  let  your  family  see  that  it  lives  in  your 
heart.  Be  sure  and  pray  for  it  before  you  go 
to  it.  Ask,  plead  that  Christ  will  be  mani- 
fested in  it.  Pray  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may 
be  present  to  warm,  cheer,  and  animate  every 
heart. 

Feel  responsibility  for  it.  Make  it  a  sol- 
emn dut}^,  a  habit,  and  a  privilege  to  be  there. 
Go  with  a  cheerful  face.  Don't  go  acting, 
looking,  or  feeling  as  if  you  had  a  chain  around 
you  called  Duty,  by  which  you  were  dragged 
to  the  place.    If  the  room  is  dark,  move  round 


INTERESTING  PRAYER-MEETINGS.   107 

and  get  more  lights.  If  not  warm  and  cheer- 
ful, go  to  your  brethren,  and  insist  upon  it 
that  the  room  must  be  comfortable,  pleasant, 
and  inviting.  If  others  seem  inclined  to  shirk, 
don't  you.  If  the  singing  is  tame  or  dull,  or 
there  is  none  at  all,  be  careful  and  see  some 
one  of  the  brethren  who  is  a  singer,  and  urge 
him  to  be  there.  If  you  can't  sing,  he  must 
go.  If  you  can,  you  need  his  aid.  Go  up 
near  the  pulpit  or  table,  up  where  your  min- 
ister and  your  brethren  can  see  you,  and  feel 
that  your  breath  is  warm. 

If  the  meeting  is  thrown  open  for  remarks, 
do  n't  sit  and  wait  for  others.  Be  ready. 
Have  your  gun  loaded,  and  shoot  quick.  There 
is  no  life  in  silence  or  in  waiting.  Let  your 
prayer  be  short.  It  may  be  much  longer  than 
you  think  it  is.  I  once  heard  and  joyfully 
united  in  six  prayers,  no  one  of  which  was 
over  two  minutes  long.  They  were  intensely 
good. 

Feel  under  obligation  to  have  variety  in 
your  meeting.  It  is  fatal  to  inake  a  prayer- 
meeting  stereotyped.  Can't  you  sometimes 
have  something  new  sung?     Can't  you  get 


108  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

this  or  that  diflQcIent  young  man  to  come  in 
and  say  a  few  words  ?  Can't  yon  get  that 
other  man  who  never  speaks,  to  open  his 
mouth?  You  must  go  to  them  alone  before 
the  meeting,  and  speak  encouragingly  to  them. 
Do  n't  scare  them  by  making  them  think  they 
must  make  a  speech.  Go  to  your  meeting 
hopeful — I  mean,  really  believing  Christ,  when 
he  promises  to  be  in  the  midst  of  the  two  or 
three  who  gather  in  his  name.  You  may  feel, 
perhaps,  that  you  are  cold  and  others  are 
cold.  But  there  certainly  will  be  One  there, 
Christ,  who  is  not  cold.  Don't  always  be 
harping  on  one  string,  either  in  your  prayers 
or  in  your  exhortations.  Keep  the  wheels 
out  of  the  old,  deep  rut.  Some  are  always 
dwelling  upon  a  revival,  a  revival,  as  if  there 
was  nothing  done  or  to  be  prayed  for  but 
this:  whereas  there  is  the  spirituality  of  the 
church ;  there  is  the  word,  the  seed  sown ; 
there  is  the  Sabbath-school ;  there  is  the  lib- 
erality of  the  people  of  God ;  there  is  the  soil 
preparing  and  to  be  prepared  for  the  seed  of 
the  word ;  and  all  these  belong  to  the  prayer- 
meeting. 


INTERESTING  PRAYER-MEETINGS.  109 

Do  n't  scold.  It  will  do  no  good.  Those 
present  feel  that  they  don't  deserve  it,  and 
the  absent  do  n't  hear  it.  The  prayer-meet- 
ing is  not  the  place  to  groan  under  spiritual 
dyspepsia.  Do  n't  whip  your  pastor  with  your 
prayers.  His  heart  is  heavy  enough ;  but  he 
knows  it  is  often  best  to  keep  his  heart-aclies 
to  himself,  and  to  be  at  least  outwardly  cheer- 
ful. He  wants  and  needs  your  earnest  pray- 
ers and  sympathies. 

Don't  teach  false  theology.  You  some- 
times hear  men  say,  ' '  If  now  this  church- 
would  only  come  down  on  her  knees  in  the 
dust  before  God,  a  revival  would  follow." 
Do  n't  j^ou  know  that  if  she  should  thus  come 
down,  the  revival  is  already  there  ? 

Do  n't  carrj^  a  burdened  conscience  to  the 
prayer-meeting.  If  to-day  or  the  last  week 
you  have  wronged  any  one  in  bargains,  in 
words,  or  in  any  way,  settle  it  with  him  and 
with  God  before  you  come  to  the  meeting. 
You  will  find  the  meeting  dead  and  cold  to 
you  if  3'ou  do  not.  Our  sins  separate  between 
us  and  God. 

Don't  be  afraid  you  will  do  more  than 


no  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

your  share  to  make  "our  praycr-meetiug " 
interesting.  "  Wliatsoever  thy  hand  findeth 
to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might."  In  building  a 
church  edifice — the  mere  shell  to  contain  the 
church — there  must  be  the  architect  and  the 
contractor  and  the  carpenters,  and  also  the 
men  with  spades,  and  men  to  carry  the  brick 
and  the  mortar.  They  are  all  to  do  some- 
thing. So  let  it  be  with  all  who  are  laboring 
together  to  build  up  the  true  spiritual  church 
of  Christ. 


FAMILY  GOVERNMENT.  Ill 


XVI. 

Family  Government. 

I  AM  speaking  of  those  whose  children  are 
young;  with  characters  unformed,  with  fac- 
ulties undeveloped.  Don't  turn  away,  say- 
ing to  yourself,  "I  can't  get  time  to  read  or 
plan.  He  can't  sympathize  with  me.  I  have 
burdens  heavy  enough  daily,  without  being 
lectured."  Softly,  softly.  It  may  be  possible 
that,  if  I  can't  relieve  you  of  any  of  your  bur- 
dens, I  can  help  you  to  bear  them.  Those 
little  ones,  the  flowers  of  the  hearth,  the  sun- 
beams in  your  dwelling,  are  worth  to  you  and 
to  themselves  all  your  anxieties,  cares,  and 
toils,  and  they  will,  if  rightly  trained,  repay 
a  thousand-fold  all  they  cost  jou.  Remem- 
ber that  you  are  to  your  child  a  friend,  a 
ruler,  and  a  teacher. 

To  control  him,  readil}^  and  fully,  you  must 
at  all  times  govern  yourself. 

If  the  child  sees  that  you  are  irritable, 
hasty,   ill-tempered,  and  passionate,  he  will 


112  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

understand  this  very  early.  I  shall  not  now 
explain  the  reason  why  it  is  so ;  but  the  fact 
is  undeniable,  that  he  who  would  control  oth- 
ers, must  control  himself.  If  then,  you  act 
and  decide,  say  Yes  or  No,  smile  or  frown, 
according  as  you  happen  to  feel  at  the  mo- 
ment, you  make  that  child  feel  you  are  as 
liable  to  treat  him  with  injustice  as  otherwise. 
He  can't  respect  passion  or  temper.  You  lose 
in  his  respect,  and  also  in  his  love.  And 
your  observation  will  teach  you  that,  among 
all  your  acquaintances,  you  can't  think  of  one 
instance  where  parents  have  good  family  gov- 
ernment, who  cannot  govern  themselve&-. 

Insist  on  promjpt,  cheerful  obedience^  and  that 
without  giving  the  reasons. 

It  is  a  very  common  mistake  to  appeal  to 
the  reason  of  your  child,  and  show  him  how 
reasonable  your  command  is.  The  fact  is,  the 
child  has  no  reason  to  which  you  can  appeal. 
His  reason  must  grow  out  of  the  experience 
of  life.  It  is  undeveloped  as  yet,  and  God 
has  placed  him  in  subjection  to  you,  because 
you  have  reason  and  he  has  not.  The  child 
loves  to  discuss  the  matter,  and  debate  the 


FAMILY  GOVERNMENT.  113 

why  and  wherefore,  and  if  permitted,  will 
often  overpower  the  reason  of  parents  by  the 
most  pnerile  assertions.  You  may  cultivate 
the  reasoning  faculties  of  your  child  as  much 
as  you  please,  but  it  is  not  the  time  to  do  it 
when  you  have  laid  a  command  upon  him. 
Some  try  to  gain  obedience  by  appealing  to 
love,  or  shame,  or  the  good  opinion  of  others, 
but  never  seem  to  think  that  their  commands 
are  all  the  reason  the  child  needs.  Grod  laj'S 
his  commands  upon  us,  without  assigning  the 
reasons  why  we  should  obey  them.  What  a 
volume  on  the  rights  of  property  might  be 
written  under  the  command,  "Thou  shalt  not 
steal." 

In  family  government  it  is  very  important 
that  the  father  and  mother  sustain  each  other. 

■  The  child  will  early  learn  which  parent 
yields  soonest  to  importunity,  and  he  will 
therefore,  if  refused  by  the  sterner  one,  never 
rest  till  he  has  tried  the  weaker.  I  shall  not 
say  which  of  the  parents  is  oftener  the  soon- 
est to  yield.  But  when  the  child  makes  a 
request  which  you  see  fit  to  deny  him,  and  he 
says,  "Well,  I'll  go  and  ask  father;  I  know 


114  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS, 

he  will  let  me,"  that  father,  if  he  does  so,  is 
making  a  great  mistake.  The  mother,  shut 
np,  worn  and  troubled,  wearied  and  discour- 
aged by  the  constant  supervision  of  her  chil- 
dren, needs  all  the  aid  and  support  which  the 
authority  of  a  father  can  give  her.  The  child 
should  never  feel  that  there  is  an  appeal  from 
the  decision  of  one  parent  to  the  good-nature 
of  the  other.  Even  if  you  do  n't  feel  that  the 
decision  has  been  the  wisest  possible,  don't 
let  the  child  know  that  you  feel  so.  Take  it 
for  granted  that  the  decision  has  been  right. 
Draw  together,  and  let  the  voice  of  one  be 
the  voice  of  both. 

Strive  to  develope  your  child  slowly. 

It  is  an  inherent  part  of  the  American 
character  to  do  things  quick.  We  can't  wait 
for  trees  to  grow  naturall}^  We  must  stimu- 
late them,  and  then  boast  how  early  we  made 
them  bear  fruit,  forgetting  that  they  must  de- 
cay as  earlj^.  We  can't  huild  a  house,  we  must 
"run  it  up."  We  can't  build  a  bridge  that 
will  last  ages;  we  must  "  throw  one  over  the 
stream,"  and  in  a  few  years  see  it  perish. 
We  do  n't  want  to  have  boys  and  girls ;  they 


FAMILY  GOVEKNMENT.  115 

must  leap  from  infancy  into  manhood.  "We 
must  stimulate  the  child,  see  how  fast  we  can 
cram  and  excite  the  brain,  and  develope  the 
man  in  him.  Hence  we  must  have  prema- 
ture and  immature  and  obscure  men — all  from 
the  most  promising  and  precocious  children. 
Whereas  the  perfection  of  education  is  slow  de- 
velojyment. 

When  you  see  the  fond  parent  trying  to 
show  you  how  "forward"  his  child  is,  how 
"quick"  he  is,  how  he  excels  in  his  class,  and 
when  you  see  him  trying  to  "show  off"  his 
darling,  I  beg  you  to  commiserate  the  child, 
and  write  it  down  in  your  book  that  the  child 
will  never  be  much  of  a  man.  That  slow, 
heavy  boy,  whose  skull  seems  to  be  so  thick 
that  you  cannot  get  an  idea  into  it,  will  prob- 
ably develope  slowly  and  long,  and  will  re- 
tain every  idea  that  ever  gets  into  his  skull. 
He  is  the  boy  that  you  may  expect  to  make 
a  strong,  manly  character.  Willows  sprout 
early  and  grow  fast.  The  oak  puts  out  its 
leaf  late,  and  grows  slowly.  The  one  is  wov- 
en into  baskets,  the  other  is  bolted  into  ships. 
Don't  feel  elated  because  your  child  is  pre- 


116  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

cocious ;  do  n't  feel  discouraged  because  lie 
seems  slow  to  acquire.  In  the  end,  the  turtle 
almost  invariably  beats  the  fox  in  the  race. 
We  could  give  examples  enough  to  prove  this. 
You  will  find  that  a  great  deal  of  character 
is  imparted  and  received  at  the  table.  Par- 
ents too  often  forget  this ;  and  therefore,  in- 
stead of  swallowing  your  food  in  sullen  silence, 
instead  of  brooding  over  your  business,  instead 
of  severely  talking  about  others,  let  the  con- 
versation at  the  table  be  genial,  kind,  social, 
and  cheering.  Do  n't  bring  disagreeable  things 
to  the  table  in  your  conversation,  any  more 
than  you  would  in  your  dishes.  For  this  rea- 
son too,  the  more  good  company  you  have  at 
your  table,  the  better  for  your  children.  Every 
conversation  with  company  at  your  table  is 
an  educator  of  the  family.  Hence  the  intelli- 
gence and  the  refinement  and  the  appropriate 
behavior  of  a  family  which  is  given  to  hos- 
pitality. Never  feel  that  intelligent  visitors 
can  be  any  thing  but  a  blessing  to  you  and 
yours.  How  few  have  fully  gotten  hold  of 
the  fact,  that  company  and  conversation  at 
the  table  are  no  small  part  of  education ! 


FAMILY  GOVEBNMENT.  117 

Oue  tbiug  more.  There  is  one  thing  that 
will  aid  you  to  govern  yourself,  to  decide 
rightly,  to  be  kind  and  yet  firm,  to  govern 
your  children,  and  to  meet  the  responsibili- 
ties of  life,  beyond  all  that  I  have  said,  and 
that  is,  daily,  humble,  earnest  prayer.  This 
is  the  mightiest  aid  you  can  seize.  Without 
it,  you  will  fail;  but  with  it,  you  can  hardly 
be  disappointed  in  your  hopes. 


118  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

XVII. 

The  jVLoDEL  Deacon. 

When  I  first  knew  him  he  was  a  youug 
man,  having  just  come  to  the  place  of  my  resi- 
dence to  begin  business  among  us.  He  was 
unmarried,  and  I  knew  him  only  as  a  very 
pleasant  j^oung  man,  bearing  a  mild  counte- 
nance and  a  hopeful  look.  He  at  once  came 
into  my  church,  entered  the  Sabbath-school  as 
a  teacher,  and  showed  an  active,  modest  piety. 
From  that  hour  to  his  death  he  has  been 
steadily  and  silently  growing  in  Christian 
character.  In  a  ver}^  few  years  he  had  so 
gained  the  confidence  of  the  community,  that, 
while  yet  a  j^oung  man,  he  was  elected  an 
officer  in  our  church.  With  great  diffidence 
and  distrust,  he  at  once  came  to  talk  the  mat- 
ter over  with  his  minister,  and  receive  his 
advice.  He  came  in  company  with  another 
young  man,  whom  the  church  had  placed  by 
his  side  in  precisely  the  same  circumstances. 
I  should  not  dare  attempt  to  recall  the  solemn 


THE  MODEL  DEACON.  119 

conversations  of  that  hour.  The  modest,  beau- 
tiful letter  which  they  addressed  to  the  church, 
accepting  the  trust,  showed  that  she  had  not 
mistaken  her  sons.  They  were  together  in- 
ducted into  office  on  the  Sabbath  that  our  old 
church  edifice  was  burned. 

Nobody  has  so  good  an  opportunity  to 
know  the  members  of  his  church  as  the  pas- 
tor ;  and  if  he  be  a  kind,  generous-hearted 
man,  no  one  can  appreciate  all  that  is  good  so 
highly.  To  him  every  improvement  of  char- 
acter among  them  is  the  dust  of  diamonds. 

Some  men  in  office  are  always  in  a  state  of 
anxiety  lest  they  be  overlooked,  or  have  less 
respect  or  influence  than  is  their  due.  But  so 
far  as  I  can  remember,  I  never  saw  any  of 
this  Diotrephean  spirit  in  him.  When  called 
to  act,  whether  it  were  to  do  a  humble  deed 
or  a  great  one,  he  never  inquired  how  he 
would  look  while  doing  it;  he  never  seemed 
to  think  of  himself.  Hence  he  was  always 
natural,  and  always  like  himself.  He  never 
shouted  in  order  to  hear  the  echoes  of  his  own 
voice.  I  have  seen  him  on  great  occasions, 
when  many  eyes  were  upon  him,  and  I  have 


120  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

seen  him  at  the  head  of  our  Sabbath-school 
year  after  year,  and  I  have  seen  him  bringing 
in  benches  and  giving  seats  to  the  poor,  and 
falling  back  into  the  ranks  and  taking  a  single 
class  in  the  same  Sabbath-school,  and  I  never 
saw  any  difference  in  his  appearance  or  spirit. 

Whether  conducting  a  religious  meeting, 
when  its  responsibility  was  resting  on  him,  or 
whether  talking  alone  with  his  pastor  con- 
cerning his  private  experience  and  Christian 
hopes,  he  was  ever  the  same  quiet,  lowly,  yet 
sincere  man.  You  never  feared  that  he  would 
say  or  profess  more  than  he  felt ;  that  he  would 
attempt  to  be  more  than  he  was,  or  try  to  do 
more  than  he  could.  He  did  not  wait  for 
great  occasions  when  he  could  do  great  things 
for  his  Master,  or  for  a  dark  night,  when  his 
lamp,  if  kindled,  would  be  seen  afar  off,  but 
was  always  ready  to  act.  I  have  had  him 
with  me  on  councils  of  importance,  and  I  have 
had  him  go  with  me  to  the  sinning  and  the 
erring,  and  I  never,  on  either  of  such  occa- 
sions, heard  him  say  a  word  or  give  a  look 
that  I  would  have  had  altered. 

His  Christian  experience  was  so  wrought 


THE  MODEL  DEACON.  121 

in  him,  that  I  don't  think  he  ever  had,  till  he 
came  to  die,  all  the  consolations  of  hope  which 
he  might  have  appropriated.  He  dwelt  higher 
uj)  the  monnt  than  he  thought,  and  he  wist 
not  that  his  face  shone,  when -others  saw^  that 
it  did. 

There  was  no  one  among  us,  perhaps,  wdio 
was  more  interested  in  foreign  missions ;  in 
collecting  money  from  our  own  people  ;  in  re- 
ceiving it  from  the  churches  in  the  country  to 
be  transmitted  to  the  Board ;  in  attending  the 
monthly  concerts  ;  in  circulating  intelligence  ; 
or  more  warm  in  sympathy  or  more  fervent 
in  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  the  world ; 
and  yet  there  was  no  one,  probably,  whom  the 
poor  would  more  deeply  mourn  or  more  decid- 
edly miss.  His  was  an  eye  that  saw  want  afar 
off,  and  no  less  clearly  that  which  was  near. 

He  was  a  model  in  benevolence.  I  have 
never  known  him  turn  away  from  a  call  of 
charity ;  and  my  only  fear  on  that  score  has 
been  lest  he  should  actually  give  more  than 
he  ought,  and  to  objects  not  always  the  most 
pressing.  And  when  I  speak  of  his  amiable 
life.  T  do  not  mean  simply  that  he  had  a  coun- 


122  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

tenaiice  so  mild  and  lovely  that  all  loved  to 
look  at  it;  speech  so  sweet  that  all  loved  to 
have  him  speak  to  them ;  a  smile  so  winning 
that  all  loved  to  meet  it ;  and  a  disposition  so 
gentle  that  none  could  receive  offence :  but  I 
mean  that  the  natural  traits  of  character  were 
so  permeated  by  the  spirit  of  Christ,  that  the 
whole  man  was  made  uncommon.  How  sel- 
dom is  it  that  a  pastor  can  be  associated  inti- 
mately with  one  standing  in  his  relation,  and 
so  long,  and  be  able  to  recall  no  word  that  was 
unkind,  no  act  that  was  disrespectful,  no  emo- 
tion that  was  un-Christian,  and  no  look  that 
was  cold.  And  yet  there  was  no  want  of 
manly  independence,  and  no  spirit  of  syco- 
phancy. 

We  sometimes  admire  the  tree  which  our 
own  hand  hath  planted,  as  it  silently  and 
slowly  shoots  up  and  spreads  out  its  branches, 
and  stands  out  a  thing  of  strength  and  of 
beauty.  How  much  more  beautiful  to  see 
a  human  soul  developed  and  enlarged  and 
strengthened,  till  the  whole  community  can 
trust  it  and  love  it  while  here,  and  deeply 
mourn  it  when  removed, 


THE  MODEL  DEACON.  123 

His  was  the  beautiful  path  on  the  banks  of 
the  river  of  life,  and  under  the  shade  of  the 
trees  that  grow  there,  in  which  he  who  walks 
therein  has  neither  to  seek  nor  to  shun  office, 
neither  to  seek  nor  to  shun  riches,  neither  to 
strive  to  be  great  or  small,  because  there 
walks  One  with  him  who  is  himself  the  ex- 
ceeding great  reward.  I  never  heard  him 
intimate  that  there  was  an  office  in  the  world 
which  he  coveted,  or  gains  that  he  desired. 
He  took  his  place  modestly  at  life's  banquet, 
and  asked  nothing  which  was  not  in  the  bill 
of  fare.  Whether  I  wanted  him  to  go  with  me 
to  an  outside  neighborhood  meeting,  or  to  see 
to  the  wants  of  any  poor  saint,  or  converse 
with  any  backsliding  one,  or  do  any  other 
self-denying  work,  I  never  knew  him  refuse, 
or  tr}^  to  find  excuses  for  not  doing  it.  And 
yet  so  unobtrusive  was  his  piety,  so  symmet- 
rical was  his  character,  and  so  gently  he  moved 
among  us,  that  it  was  not  till  we  saw  him  actu- 
ally taken  from  us  that  we  realized  how  much 
of  worth  was  removed.  Those  who  have  seen 
his  face  as  he  ministered  at  the  communion 
table,  those  who  have  met  him  weekly  at  the 


1-24  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

prayer-meeting,  tliose  wlio  have  seen  him  in 
his  busiest  hours,  those  who  have  been  in  his 
classes  in  the  Sabbath-school,  those  who  have 
had  him  come  to  them  in  their  poverty  or  sick- 
ness, will  now,  and  more  and  more,  feel  their 
loss  and  miss  his  presence. 

I  am  comforted  under  our  heavy  loss,  in 
the  cheering  thought  that  such  a  character 
may  actually  grow  up  among  us,  and  reach  so 
much  development,  and  when,  in  the  fulness 
of  usefulness  and  of  strength  it  is  cut  down,  it 
can  leave  such  a  mighty  testimony  to  the 
power  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Scarcely  could 
any  one  have  lowlier  views  of  the  depravity 
of  the  heart,  feel  a  deeper  need  of  an  atone- 
ment and  a  divine  power  to  renew  the  heart, 
or  have  a  more  exalted  reverence  or  love  for 
the  Saviour  of  sinners. 

The  summons  came  unexpectedly.  And 
when  the  overtasked  brain  gave  way  and  the 
intellect  was  shattered,  it  was  beautiful  to  see 
the  weary  spirit  dwelling  on  the  great  reali- 
ties of  eternity,  struggling  to  see  light  through 
the  chinks  which  disease  was  making  in  the 
poor  house  of  clay,  and  ringing  out  of  the 


THE  MODEL  DEACON.  125 

midnight  of  the  soul,  "God  is  love!  God  is 
love!'' 

I  have  buried  many  strong,  useful  men.  I 
have  had  Aarons  and  Hurs  taken  from  me ; 
but  I  have  seldom  more  deeply  felt  my  per- 
sonal loss  than  in  burying  this  man.  But  on 
the  Sabbath  morning,  just  after  we  had  com- 
menced our  morning  service,  the  angel  of  the 
Presence  came,  and  took  him  away  so  gentl}^ 
that  his  footsteps  were  not  heard,  and  the 
redeemed  spirit  went  up  to  the  everlasting 
Sabbath  of  heaven.  So  lived  and  so  died  the 
model  deacon,  Henrt  G.  Davis. 


126  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

XVIII. 

"We  Hire  by  the  Year." 

"We  hire  by  the  year,  sir,"  said  one  of 
whom  I  had  made  the  inquiry  when  his  church 
was  to  have  a  pastor  settled.  "  We  hir^  by 
the  year,  and  we  like  it.  We  are  not  tied, 
and  our  preacher  can  go  when  he  pleases,  and 
we  can  get  another  when  we  find  one  who 
suits  us  better." 

This  was  the  truth  in  a  nutshell,  and  it 
put  me  to  thinking,  and  then  to  looking  round 
me.  The  first  thing  I  saw  was,  that  at  least 
ten  churches  in  one  county  are  at  this  moment 
"hiring"  preachers,  instead  of  having  settled 
pastors.  The  next  thing  I  saw  was,  to  my 
amazement,  that  my  own  pastorate  had  out- 
lived every  other  one  in  the  county,  and  that, 
on  an  average,  our  churches  have  had  over 
four  and  a  half  men  to  each  church  during 
this  time.  And  now  may  I  plainly  say  to  our 
churches,  that  my  impressions  are,  and  obser- 
vation confirms  the  impressions,  that  this  sys- 


"WE  HIRE  BY  THE  YEAR."  127 

tem  of  "hiring  preaching"  will,  in  the  results, 
bo  very  pernicious  to  our  churches,  and  not 
less  so  to  the  ministers. 
;  Tlie  system  degrades  the  ministry. 
'  "We  hire  our  preachers  by  the  year," 
and  so  I  hire  my  man.  At  the  end  of  the 
year  he  may  leave,  and  has  left  several  times 
before  the  j^ear  was  out,  hoping  to  get  higher 
wages.  So  may  your  preacher  do.  He  is 
merely  a  "hireling,"  in  the  same  sense  that 
the  man  hires  out  his  two  hands.  When  the 
Jewish  priest  was  "ordained  of  men,"  it  was 
during  all  the  years  of  his  service ;  and  when 
Titus  was  directed  to  "ordain  elders  in  every 
city,"  nobody  thinks  it  was  to  create  a  circu- 
lating ministry,  to  be  hired  from  time  to  time. 
Is  it  right,  is  it  comely,  is  it  honoring  those 
who  are  "set  over"  our  churches,  to  place 
the  office  on  a  level  with  the  hired  help  of  the 
farmer,  the  tanner,  and  the  street-cleaner? 
Many  of  these  men  who  thus  preach,  have  far 
less  wages  than  mechanics  whom  I  know,  who 
are  hired  in  the  same  way.  Is  it  not  de- 
grading the  office  of  the  Christian  ministry  in 
the  eyes  of  your  children  and  of  the  com- 


128  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

munity  ?  The  ministers  feel  it  if  the  churches 
do  n't. 

This  system  prevents  tJie  power  of  sympathy, 
a  great  poicer  in  the  pastoral  office. 

One  of  the  things  that  gives  the  pastor 
power,  is  the  strong  attachment  between  him 
and  his  people.  He  loves  them,  and  they  and 
their  children  love  him,  confide  in  him,  com- 
mit their  secrets  to  him,  and  ask  his  advice 
on  points  the  most  important,  and  yet  confi- 
dential. He  is  the  friend,  the  adviser,  the 
sympathizer  of  all.  They  feel  that  his  destiny 
and  happiness  are  bound  up  with  theirs.  Next 
to  the  bosom  of  Christ,  they  lean  on  him,  and 
next  to  Christ  they  tell  him  all  their  trials 
and  sorrows.  In  a  few  years  the  young  look 
to  him  with  the  reverence  of  children.  Now, 
suppose  he  is  "hired"  for  a  year,  and  that  is 
the  longest  period  I  have  ever  heard  of  as  to 
the  bargain,  how  cautious  will  he  be  not  to 
love  his  people  too  well,  and  how  cautious  will 
they  be  not  to  become  too  strongly  attached 
to  him.  The}^  know  that  permanency  is  im- 
possible, and  they  will  not  become  attached 
to  him. 


"WE  HIRE  BY  THE  YEAR."  129 

This  system  tends  to  make  both  parties  un- 
easy. 

All  who  know  human  nature  and  who  have 
o])served  closely,  know  that  the  great  tempta- 
tion of  a  man  in  Congress  is,  to  keep  looking 
over  his  shoulder  to  see  how  this  or  that  vote 
will  strike  his  constituents.  His  speeches,  his 
voting,  his  whole  course  is  shaped  with  ref- 
erence to  being  continued  in  office  or  dropped. 
Now  place  a  preacher  in  the  position  of  being 
"  hired  "  by  the  year,  and  if  he  is  not  contin- 
ually looking  over  his  shoulder  to  see  if  he 
cannot  discover  a  better  place,  and  if  the  peo- 
ple are  not  continually  contriving  how  they 
can  get  a  more  popular  and  people- drawing 
man,  then  human  nature  works  on  new  prin- 
ciples. The  ship  is  not  moored,  only  riding 
at  easy  anchor,  and  if  she  sees  a  prize,  how 
easy  to  slip  the  cable  and  be  off.  The  pas- 
toral office,  like  that  of  marriage,  is  appointed 
by  Grod,  and  in  sacredness  comes  next  to  the 
marriage  relation.  Let  husbands  and  wives 
act  on  this  principle,  and  society  will  be  in 
ruins  within  a  single  generation.  If  you  say 
the  system  will  make  the  preacher  more  care- 

6* 


130  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

ful,  more  anxious  to  please,  lest  he  be  turned 
off  at  the  end  of  the  year,  I  reply,  "We  do  n't 
want  him  to  have  that  temptation.  We  do  n't 
want  him  to  be  tempted  to  be  a  sycophant, 
any  more  than  a  wandering  star.  Our  church- 
es have  no  right  to  place  either  temptation 
before  their  ministers. 

This  system  will  inevitably  make  a  weak  min- 
istry. 

Let  a  man  in  any  profession,  in  any  busi- 
ness, be  always  hegiiming,  and  he  will  never 
accomplish  much.  A  young  preacher  goes  to 
a  place,  and  he  knows  from  the  very  atmos- 
phere and  the  terms  of  the  bargain,  that  his 
stay  there  will  be  short.  Probably  he  is  in 
debt  for  his  education.  He  has  no  capital  in 
money,  in  character,  in  influence  :  he  has  these 
to  make.  Now  he  is  morally  certain  that  he 
can  only  barely  make  a  beginning  here.  He 
can't  make  book-cases,  buy  books,  create  a 
library,  gather  materials,  fix  his  home,  for  he 
is  only  "hired."  What  can  he  do  with  his 
books,  if  he  tries  to  draw  from  the  reservoir 
of  thought  which  is  created  and  ready  for 
him  ?     He  cannot  arrange  them  in  his  book- 


"WE  HIRE  BY  THE  YEAR."  131 

cases  made  with  his  own  hands,  as  I  and  many 
others  have  done  all  our  professional  life,  nor 
think  with  comfort  about  removing  the  heavy 
things  when  he  removes.  He  is  only  a  ' '  hired  " 
sojourner,  and  is  soon  to  take  up  his  bed  and 
walk.  He  has  hardly  made  a  beginning  for 
himself  or  his  people,  before  he  must  go  some- 
where else,  and  begin  again.  And  thus  the 
poor  man  is  all  his  life  beginning,  and  won- 
dering why  he  has  not  grown  more  and  be- 
come more.  If  our  churches  want  to  dwarf 
the  ministry,  and  keep  us  as  a  kind  of  sacred 
apprentices,  this  is  the  way  to  do  it,  and  this 
will  surely  be  the  result.  No  man  can  be 
expected  to  study  and  think,  if  he  is  to  go  to 
a  new  place  shortly,  and  go  over  the  same 
ground  again. 

This  system  wrongfully  withholds  from  the 
ministry  a  great  moral  power. 

There  is  no  influence  like  that  of  "  charac- 
ter," and  to  have  that  you  must  give  time  for 
its  growth.  Every  man  knows  that  there  is 
an  indescribable  power  in  the  pastor,  which 
no  other  man  can  have.  Hear  him  •pray  for 
his  flock,  meet  him   in  the    pra3'er-meeting, 


132  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

meet  him  in  the  ecclesiastical  council,  and 
you  will  feel  it.  His  people  know  that  the 
man  who  has  sustained  himself  for  many  years 
as  their  teacher,  must  and  does  know  them 
through  and  through,  that  he  must  and  does 
desire  their  highest  interests ;  and  he  has  great 
moral  power.  No  other  man  in  the  town  be- 
gins to  have  this.  It  is  the  power  of  charac- 
ter. You  may  plant  the  best  tree  in  the  nur- 
sery, but  if  you  remove  it  once  a  year,  or 
once  in  two  years,  every  removal  checks  its 
growth,  or  puts  it  back  and  dwarfs  it,  because 
it  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  nature  ; 
and  it  is  equally  in  violation  of  all  moral  laws, 
that  a  circulating  ministry  shall  have  the  moral 
power  of  the  pastor.  God's  ministers  are  too 
poor  and  too  dependent  on  their  people,  and 
too  much  in  their  hands,  to  have  any  source 
of  influence  shut  off.  You  wrench  from  us  a 
mighty  power  for  good,  when  you  take  from 
us  the  crook  of  the  shepherd.  The  sheep 
hear  no  other  voice  as  they  hear  his. 

This  system  tempts  the  preacher  to  flee  in 
a  time  oJ^trouUe. 

It  is  letting  out  no  family  secret,  when  I 


"WE  HIRE  BY  THE  YEAR."  133 

say  that  there  arc  times  when  winds  rise  and 
storms  come  in  almost  every  parish,  before 
which  none  but  a  pastor  can  stand.  The  tree 
needs  all  the  roots  which  it  has  been  fasten- 
ing in  the  soil  for  years,  in  order  to  stand.  I 
could  speak  of  many,  many  cases,  where  noth- 
ing would  have  availed  to  hold  the  ship,  but 
the  strong  cable  that  took  years  to  make.  I 
could  mention  an  old  minister  whose  pastor- 
ate was  very  long,  who  once  found  himself 
shut  out  of  his  church  for  six  weeks.  For 
six  weeks  he  went  every  Sabbath  morning  to 
his  closed  church;  his  people  .shut  his  mouth 
every  Sabbath,  and  the  grace  of  God  enabled 
him  to  shut  it  the  rest  of  the  week.  The  wind 
went  over,  the  calm  followed,  and  he  went  on 
in  his  labors  as  if  nothing  had  happened — to 
the  great  delight  and  admiration  and  benefit 
of  his  people.  They  were  always  grateful  to 
him  for  it.  How  few  of  these  hired  preachers 
could  have  stood  thus.  It  is  a  grievous  wrong 
to  place  us  in  a  position  from  which  we  are 
tempted  to  flee  when  a  storm  rises,  or  "the 
people  are  moved "  to  flee  because  we  see  "a 
wolf  coming."     You  may  call  us  "  stated  sup- 


134  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

plies,"  but  we  can't  supply  the  place  of  tlie 
pastor.  You  may  call  us  "acting  pastors," 
but  it  is  '' acting  ^^  and  not  heing  the  pastor. 
We  can  lay  no  plans  to  train  up  the  rising 
generation,  and  make  our  church  a  theological 
school,  for  we  cannot  expect  to  be  there  long, 
and  our  successor  can  hardly  be  expected  to 
take  up  the  thread  where  we  dropped  it.  I 
feel  that  our  churches  are  doing  themselves 
harm  beyond  all  that  I  can  describe,  in  thus 
degrading  and  paralyzing  the  ministry. 

One  word  to  my  brethren  in  the  ministry. 
My  dear  brethren,  there  is  no  need  of  this 
state  of  things.  Ministers  are  scarce,  and  are 
growing  scarcer.  You  need  not,  and  ought 
not  to  be  placed  in  this  position.  You  can, 
and  ought  to  be  settled  as  regular  and  perma- 
nent pastors. 

"But  can't  something  be  said  on  the  other 
side?"  Undoubtedly.  I  could  say  many  things, 
but  I  feel  sure  it  would  be  wrong  to  say  them, 
because  it  would  be  doing  that  which  would 
encourage  a  practice  that  already  threatens 
to  weaken  the  "stakes,"  and  shorten  the 
"  cords  "  of  'he  tents  of  Zion. 


PllEACHING  TO  CHILDREN.  135 

XIX. 

Preaching  to    Children. 

If  I  have  any  good  judgment  on  the  sub- 
ject, it  has  led  me  to  attempt  to  preach  to 
children  as  seldom  as  possible.  It  is,  in  my 
estimation,  the  most  difficult  of  all  pulpit  prep- 
arations and  pefrormances.  I  have  heard  of 
men  who  attempted  to  preach  to  children 
every  Sabbath  the  year  round.  I  may  be 
mistaken,  but  I  don't  believe  the  man  is  living 
who  can  long  sustain  himself  in  this  attempt. 
I  would,  at  all  hazards,  rather  undertake  to 
preach  to  the  same  number  of  doctors  of  divin- 
ity, and  that  is  saying  the  thing  very  strongly. 
In  order  to  address  children  successfully,  the 
speaker  must  be  at  the  right  age,  in  the  right 
position,  and  in  the  right  circumstances.  My 
own  early  volume  of  "Lectures  to  Children" 
was  preached  extempore  first,  in  a  revival  in. 
which  the  children  were  especially  interested, 
and  each  one  written  out  immediately  after  I 
had  returned  from  the  meeting.    That  is  what 


136  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

I  mean  b}^  "right  position  and  right  circum- 
stances." Children  do  n't  reason  logically,  or 
judge  of  a  speaker  as  we  do,  but  their  moral 
instincts  are  as  quick  as  a  flash,  and  a  speaker 
can  tell  by  the  time  he  has  uttered  two  sen- 
tences,, whether  he  can  command  their  atten- 
tion. There  is  a  sort  of  mesmerism  about  the 
thiiig,  and  if  you  can't  put  your  sympathies 
into  communication  with  theirs,  it  is  all  over. 
You  may  beat  the  bush  as  hard  as  you  please, 
but  you  will  raise  no  bird.  You  may  shout, 
but  there  will  be  no  echo. 

Now  to  answer  two  questions. 

1.  How  to  gain  the  attention  of  children. 

Probably  no  rules  or  teaching  would  ena- 
ble some  men  to  do  it. 

Use  simple  Avords.  They  should  not  be 
babyish,  namby-pamby,  but  plain,  short,  and 
terse  Anglo-Saxon.  Say  "God,"  and  not  the 
"Divinity;"  "the  Bible,"  and  not  "the  in- 
spired book;"  "sin,"  and  not  "the  transgres- 
sion of  the  Divine  law,"  and  the  like.  If  you 
happen  to  use  a  great  word  don't  undertake 
to  explain  and  define  it,  telling  them  the 
"summary   of  religion"    is    "equivalent    to 


PEEACHING  TO  CHILDREN.  137 

and  synonymous  with,  synopsis  of  revela- 
tion." 

Let  your  sentences  be  short  and  simple, 
not  involved,  not  strung  along  with  several 
thoughts.  You  may  condense  to  almost  any 
extent  all  that  you  have  to  say,  but  you  may 
not  spin  out. 

Begin  without  preface,  or  explanation,  or 
apology.  Strike  right  into  what  you  have. 
If  you  have  any  meal  in  your  sack,  do  n't  be 
a  long  while  in  untying  the  strings,  or  saying 
3^ou  wish  the  quality  was  better,  or  that  some- 
bodj^'s  sack  besides  yours  had  been  opened 
first.  Be  self- possessed,  and  very  slow  and 
deliberate.  Some  speakers  know  they  can 
command  the  attention  of  the  children  but  a 
short  time,  and  that  they  have  much  to  say, 
and  so  they  speak  as  fast  as  possible,  and 
hope  they  have  communicated  much.  They 
might  as  well  take  a  great  pitcher  of  water 
and  pour  a  great  stream  into  the  mouth  of  a 
very  small-necked  bottle,  hoping  that  the  bot- 
tle fills  up  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the 
stream.  Xine-tenths,  at  least,  runs  over,  and 
very  little  gets  into  the  bottle.     They  should 


138  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

have  poured  very  slowly,  and  made  the  stream 
very  small.  It  is  any  thing  but  wise  to  try  to 
see  how  much  you  can  say  and  communicate, 
or  how  many  anecdotes  you  can  tell,  in  a 
given  time.  The  question  is  not  how  much 
food  can  be  crowded  down,  but  how  much  can 
be  digested. 

Be  short.  No  address,  unless  the  circum- 
stances are  very  peculiar,  should  be  over 
fifteen,  or  at  most  twenty  minutes  in  length. 
Children  can't  give  their  attention,  undivid- 
ed, longer  than  that.  All  beyond  is  "bat- 
tering down  on  their  heads,"  as  Eowland 
Hill  says  of  a  third  sermon  on  the  Sabbath. 
Some  keep  on  talking,  in  the  vain  hope  that 
they  can  soon  say  a  smart  thing  and  then 
stop.  Such  fish  are  hard  to  catch.  Waiting 
for  such  results  is  like  trying  to  beat  into  a 
harbor  when  the  wind  is  ahead.  You  get  near 
enough  to  hear  the  bells  ring,  but  it  seems  as 
if  you  would  never  get  in.  Most  tedious 
speeches  are  really  far  more  intolerable  by  the 
•strong  effort  made  to  stop  at  a  very  smart  place. 

2.  What  are  the  best  aids  in  preparing  one's 
self  for  this  service? 


PREACHING  TO   CHILDREN.  139 

No  satisfactory  or  definite  answer  can  be 
given  to  this  question.  You  want  certain 
natural  endowments,  such  as  a  good  sound 
judgment,  a  correct  taste,  a  nice  sensibility,  a 
susceptibility  to  what  is  beautiful,  appropri- 
ate, and  especially  what  will  illustrate  and 
make  simple.  You  want  to  know  what  thought 
you  wish  to  communicate  and  illustrate.  The 
illustration  should  be  for  the  thought,  and  not 
the  speech  for  the  illustration.  We  don't 
give  pills  for  the  sake  of  the  sugar  with  which 
they  are  coated.  We  do  n't  build  a  ship  for 
the  sake  of  the  bunting  she  wears.  The  chil- 
dren know  as  quick  as  j^ou  do  whether  the 
speech  is  made  for  the  illustration  and  anec- 
dotes, or  whether  they  arc  for  the  speech. 
You  may  draw  from  any  and  every  source  in 
nature.  I  have  sometimes  found  a  leaf  that 
dropped  at  my  feet,  or  the  darting  of  a  swal- 
low around  me  while  on  the  way  to  the  meet- 
ing, all  the  illustration  I  wanted,  or  had  time  to 
use.  The  fresher  the  thought  and  illustration 
in  your  own  mind  the  better.  You  want 
to  be  a  full  man ;  not  in  the  sense  of  having 
your  head  filled  with  anecdotes  and  stories, 


140  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

but  in  the  sense  of  having  power  to  draw 
illustrations  from  every  thing.  The  preach- 
ing of  Christ  was  inimitably  beautiful  in  this 
respect.  You  need  a  good  memory,  to  retain 
and  recall  your  knowledge.  In  giving  facts 
and  anecdotes,  do  n't  amplify  and  dress  them 
out.  They  are  more  effective  to  be  simple 
and  as  accurate  as  possible.  As  to  reading, 
books,  etc.,  you  cannot  read  for  the  purpose 
of  gathering  materials.  That  would  be  like  a 
dj^speptic  drawing  his  strength  from  the  last 
meal  he  ate,  and  if  that  happened  to  be  tur- 
nips, his  strength  would  have  the  weakness  of 
turnips.  You  must  save  as  you  read,  and  not 
read  to  gather.  Perhaps  the  greatest  treas- 
ure you  could  have  to  draw  from,  next  to  the 
Bible,  would  be  a  full  file  of  some  good  relig- 
ious paper,  extending  through  many  years, 
and  the  longer  the  better.  This  will  be 
a  pond  almost  inexhaustible.  Each  volume 
should  be  bound  or  sewed  by  itself,  with  a 
good  index  at  the  end.  Few  have  any  con- 
ception of  the  amount  of  valuable  thought 
which  lies  buried  in  such  a  file  of  old  papers. 
Sometimes   you  have   a   thought  which  yon 


PREACHING  TO  CHILDREN.  141 

wish  to  impress,  and  you  have  no  illustration, 
and  you  go  off  and  find  one — just  as  a  man 
who  is  building,  and  wants  a  particular  stick 
of  timber,  drops  all  and  goes  off  to  the  forest, 
and  cuts  down  his  tree,  notches  and  scores  it, 
and  brings  it  home  and  fits  it  in.  It  may  do 
well,  but  he  has  lost  much  time,  and  all  the 
workmen  have  stood  still  while  he  was  do- 
ing it. 

Lastly,  you  must  love  children,  and  they 
must  feel  that  you  do,  and  that  you  are  try- 
ing to  do  them  good,  and  have  not  a  single 
thought  about  yourself  while  speaking.  You 
need  to  be  warm,  earnest,  sincere,  kind,  and 
affectionate ;  not  coming  down,  but  speaking 
as  you  do  because  you  are  down  when  you 
begin.  Wear  the  smile  of  love  on  your  face, 
because  love  has  first  filled  your  heart. 


U2  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 


XX. 

Palingenesia. 

In  some  of  our  papers  there  is  a  monthly 
list  of  patents  taken  out  at  Washington.  If 
one  has  not  been  in  the  habit  of  reading  this 
list,  he  is  surprised  at  their  number.  And  if 
he  does  read  them,  he  is  surprised  to  see  how 
few  ever  come  into  use,  and  become  a  bless- 
ing to  the  world.  Perhaps  not  one  in  a  hun- 
dred ever  comes  into  practical  use.  And  let 
any  one  visit  the  Patent  of&ce,  and  see  the 
models  of  stoves,  machines  of  every  shape  and 
form,  of  wheels  and  their  cogs,  guns,  and  of 
every  conceivable  and  inconceivable  thing, 
even  to  the  rat  and  mouse  trap,  and  he  won- 
ders why  some  of  these  stoves  can't  cook  with- 
out fuel,  these  wheels  move  without  power 
applied,  or  why  there  should  be  a  rat  or  a 
mouse  left  in  all  the  land.  It  is  an  age  of 
quick  thinking,  of  inventions  innumerable,  and 
of  patents  for  every  thing.  Our  horses  work 
in  patent  harnesses,  our  oxen  iu  patent  yokes, 


PALINGENESIA.  143 

our  bees  iu  patent  hives,  and  our  mice  die  in 
patent  traps.  These  labor-saving  plans  and 
machinery  are  applied  to  every  thing. 

Now  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  we  want 
to  carry  machinery,  or  at  least,  human  inven- 
tions into  religion,  and  use  a  sort  of  spiritual 
chloroform,  by  which  we  can  walk  in  paths 
easier  than  the  old  ones?  The  word  at  the 
head  of  these  remarks  may  seem  hard  to  the 
reader,  but  it  can't  be  harder  than  the  thing 
that  it  means,  namely,  the  new  hirth,  seems  to 
many.  If  there  is  one  thing  which  Christ  has 
laid  down  in  language  too  plain  to  be  misun- 
derstood, too  clearly  to  be  denied,  too  solemn- 
ly- to  be  neglected,  it  is  the  necessity  of  the 
palingenesia,  or  "new  birth,"  in  order  to  be 
saved.  The  same  truth  is  recognized  again 
and  again  by  the  apostles.  Now  how  is  the 
matter  arranged  so  that  men  may  get  through 
this  change  easily,  and  be  in  the  kingdom  be- 
fore they  know  it  ? 

Some  make  the  new  birth  to  mean  leaving 
Judaism  and  becoming  a  Christian.  As  if 
the  Master  in  Israel  needed  solemn  assurance 
that   no  Jew  could   be   saved,   and  that  he 


144  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

could  not  be  a  Jew  and  a  Christian  at  the 
same  time. 

Some  make  the  new  birth  to  mean  a  reso- 
lution to  come  to  Christ.  The  sinner  is  ex- 
horted to  come  at  once  to  Christ — is  told  how 
willing  and  ready  he  is  to  receive  him,  and 
that  he  has  but  to  "  will  it,  and  he  is  a  Chris- 
tian." It  do  n't  seem  to  be  necessary  for  the 
sinner  to  feel  his  sins,  to  know  any  thing 
what  the  law  requires  of  him,  and  what  is  the 
amount  of  his  guilt,  nothing  of  the  enmity  of 
his  heart  towards  God,  to  see  and  know  what 
he  has  done,  but  only  to  "resolve  to  come  to 
Christ."  These  disciples  never  go  to  school 
to  Moses  for  a  single  day.  They  have  no 
knowledge  of  Saul's  three  days'  darkness,  of 
the  sword  which  pricked  the  hearts  of  all  the 
converts  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  or  of  such 
agony  as  David  felt  in  his  bones.  They 
escape  all  this,  and  consequently  have  no 
heart-aches  to  feel,  no  agonies  of  spirit  to 
drive  them  to  Christ.  They  are  assured  that 
all  this  is  unnecessary.  The  law  is  no  longer 
a  school-master  to  lead  to  Christ.  The  new 
birth  is  only  stepping  on  the  spiritual  plat- 


PALINGENESIA.  145 

form,  and  saying,  "Here  I  am.  I  am  now 
going  to  be  a  Christian." 

"Sure  such  have  no  feelings  like  me,- 
Nor  know  themselves  wretched  and  lost." 

If  tlicrc  is  any  experience  in  such  cases,  it  is 
superficial  and  light.  It  does  not  go  into  the 
very  soul.  I  am  afraid  to  see  such  converts, 
and  have  seen  quite  too  many  of  them.  It  is 
a  heavy  misfortune  to  any  one  to  believe  that 
this  is  the  new  birth.  If  it  be,  I  have  only 
to  say  that,  after  it,  the  man  has  got  to  learn 
his  own  guilt  and  vileness,  and  see  his  heart 
as  he  never  saw  it  before. 

Some  try  to  get  through  the  new  birth  by 
getting  rid  of  sin,  and  bringing  in  holiness 
little  by  little,  and  gradually  growing  better 
and  doing  better.  Like  an  old  painter  who 
painted  a  great  and  high  mountain  with  a  man 
at  the  foot  swinging  his  pickaxe,  and  saying, 
"2>^u  a peu"  "little  by  little;"  the  difficulty 
seems  to  be,  the  mountain  grows  up  faster 
than  we  dig  it  down.  It  is  too  great  a  work 
for  a  human  being  to  do.  As  years  pass,  and 
tlie  man  outgrows  this  and  that  sin  of  youth 
and  of  carl}'  life,  he  fancies  that  he  chose  to 

7 


146  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

drop  it,  and  is  really  growing  good,  though 
conscious  that  he  has  taken  up  other  sins  in 
the  place  of  such  as  he  has  left  behind.  Age 
often  congratulates  itself  because  it  has  cast 
out  some  evil  spirits,  and  taken  in  others ;  as 
when  the  man  ceases  to  be  unchaste,  that  his 
heart  may  be  filled  with  covetousness. 

It  is  a  favorite  method  to  sneer  at  the 
strictness  of  your  ancestors,  to  ridicule  the 
catechism  which  was  wrought  into  the  old 
Puritan  character,  to  sneer  at  the  old  doc- 
trines of  the  cross,  and  to  glory  in  having  a 
religion  so  much  easier  to  obtain,  the  cross  so 
much  easier  to  carry,  the  new  birth  so  easy 
to  experience.  These  doughty  champions  of 
modern  improvement  in  religion,  are  so  de- 
lighted to  strike  the  mother  who  bore  them, 
that  they  remind  one  of  the  man,  who,  after  a 
free  drink,  came  bounding  out  of  the  house, ^ 
crying,  "There,  I  have  done  it;  I  have  whipped 
granimother,  and  she  over  eighty  years  old!'' 
The  religion  of  many  seems  to  consist  in  the 
hard  things  they  can  say,  and  the  hard  flings 
they  can  have,  at  the  theology  of  their  fathers. 
They  are  small  beings,  kicking  dead  lions. 


PALINGENESIA.  U7 

There  is  another  way  of  getting  over  this 
new  birth  easil}',  and  that  is,  to  leave  tlie 
denomination  of  your  fathers,  glow  with  admi- 
ration and  zeal,  scorn  the  state  of  darkness 
you  were  in,  and  feel  sure  that  now  you  have 
truly  been  "born  again."  Such  conversions 
are  often  very  sudden,  and  produce  a  self- 
complacency  and  a  zeal,  and  a  taking-on  of 
airs,  quite  astonishing  to  the  beholder.  We 
who  arc  left  behind,  too  stupid  or  too  old- 
fashioned  to  pass  through  this  palingenesia, 
are  comforted  by  being  told  that  we  are  in  a 
state  of  schism  and  darkness,  and  uncovenant- 
ed  mercy.  Ah,  me,  how  we  should  stand  ter- 
ror-smitten, if  we  saw  these  converts  from  our 
faith  growing  in  a  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, manifesting  as  hearty  a  desire  to  be  rid 
of  sin  as  to  shake  off  the  darkness  which  sur- 
rounded their  father  and  mother.  They  take 
poper}"  in  homeopathic  doses,  but  it  has  the 
ilavor  of  the  distillery  in  which  it  was  made. 
But  we  do  have  some  comfort  in  the  darkened 
state  in  which  we  arc  left;  we  do  know  that 
when  one  of  our  ministers  drops  into  the  gar- 
den, it  is  usually  because  the  stem  is  so  weak 


148  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

that  the  fruit  cannot  hang  on  longer;  and 
when  our  private  members  are  thus  convert- 
ed, it  is  usually  those  who  do  not  abound  in 
strength  of  intellect.  There  is  a  screw  loose 
before  the  machine  begins  to  run  wild.  Our 
sorrow  is  not  for  our  loss,  for  that  is  usually 
far  less  than  is  supposed ;  but  to  see  the  chil- 
dren and  the  grandchildren  of  godly  ancestors 
run  into  delusions,  and  think  they  are  born  of 
the  Spirit  and  are  safe. 

My  own  experience,  and  the  observation 
of  life,  lead  me  to  say  to  my  reader,  that  if  he 
has  a  good,  Scriptural  hope  that  he  has  expe- 
rienced "the  new  birth,"  then. 

He  has  been,  and  is  sensible,  and  deeply 
so,  that  he  is  a  depraved,  ruined,  lost  sinner  ; 
and  that,  if  lost  eternally,  it  would  be  no  more 
than  he  deserves. 

That  he  never  has  done  any  thing  that  can 
recommend  him  to  the  mercy  of  Christ. 

That  if  he  is  converted  from  sin,  it  has 
been  done  not  by  himself,  but  by  the  agency 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

That  he  will  ever  feel  that  he  is  depend- 
ent on  the  blood  of  Christ  for  salvation. 


PALINGENESIA.  149 

That  his  strongest  evidence  that  he  is  born 
again  is,  not  that  he  is  good,  or  is  growing 
good,  or  is  dropping  this  and  that  sin,  or  is 
growing  wise,  or  is  leaving  the  communion  of 
his  fathers,  but  that  he  looks  to  Christ,  keeps 
"looking"  at  him,  and  looking  to  him  alone 
for  salvation.     Sovereign  mercy  alone. 


loO  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

XXI. 

The  Young    Man's   Lettei^ 

I  AM  not  unfrequeiitly  lionored  with  letters 
from  young  men:  some  making  one  inquiry, 
and  some  another ;  some  hanging  on  one  horn 
of  one  difficulty,  and  some  on  another.  My 
replies  to  them  are  often,  from  necessity,  very 
brief.  Now  and  then  one  seems  to  demand  a 
more  full  reply,  lest  an  opportunity  of  real 
usefulness  should  be  lost.  Such  a  letter  is 
now  lying  before  me,  and  it  belongs  to  a  class 
of  the  same  kind.  After  assuring  me  that 
"he  is  not  an  infidel,"  the  writer  adds,  "I 
know  not  what  is  the  object  of  man's  exist- 
ence. The  Bible  tells  us  that  it  is  to  repent 
and  believe  on  Jesus  Christ;  but  I  cannot 
make  this  harmonize  with  my  reason.  The 
question  continually  arises  in  my  mind,  and 
repels  the  idea  contained  in  the  Scriptures : 
Would  God,  a  loving  Father,  endowed  with 
all  power,  place  mortals  upon  this  earth  and 
allow  them  to  be  miserable,  wh-Mi  by  a  look 


THE  YOUNG  MAN'S  LETTER.  151 

he  could  make  tlieiii  happy?  Will  you  an- 
swer this  question  for  me?"  etc. 

Now,  m}^  young  friend,  unknown  entirely, 
will  you  just  sit  down  and  let  me  talk  with 
you  a  few  minutes?  Probably  you  never  saw 
so  much  of  your  composition  in  print  before ; 
but  don't  be  too  much  elated.  Your  ideas 
are  any  thing  but  original ;  for  you  must 
know, 

In  the  first  place,  that  almost  every  young 
man  has  to  go  through  a  short  period  of  doubt- 
ing and  trying  to  be  an  infidel.  It  seems  to 
be  almost  inseparable  from  a  certain  condition 
in  coming  into  mental  puberty,  through  which 
all  must  pass.  Yours  is  nothing  but  a  very 
common  case,  and  most  likely  will  shortly 
pass  off.  You  will  never  be  so  wise,  or  have 
a  mind  that  can  so  grasp  any  thing  short  of 
infinite  again,  as  now.  The  young  bird  prob- 
abl}^  never  feels  that  he  can  soar  so  high  as 
when  he  first  discovers  that  he  has  wings. 

In  the  second  place,  allow  me  to  say  that 
I  have  never  known  a  man  continue  sceptical 
a  long  time,  who  had  not  somewhere  a  shallow 
spot   in   his    menial    organization.     There    is 


152  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

some  screw  loose ;  and  if  you  meet  with  sucli 
men,  jo\x  will  alwaj^s  find  them  unbalanced  in 
judgment,  and  showing  decided  marks  of  weak- 
ness. They  are  not  the  men  in  whose  judg- 
ment the  community  confide ;  and  for  this 
reason,  that  the  revelation  of  Grod  is  such, 
and  the  teachings  of  his  word  are  such,  that  a 
balanced  mind,  like  Bacon's  or  Newton's,  can 
never  be  sceptical. 

In  the  third  place,  your  not  being  able  to 
make  facts  undeniable. agree  with  your  reason, 
is  no  new  thing.  The  poor  Indians  to  whom 
Eliot  preached  had  the  same  trouble,  and 
made  the  same  statements,  only  in  far  better 
language  than  you  have  done.  I  have  heard 
of  a  great  many  who  attemjDted  to  "square 
the  circle,"  or  to  "discover  perpetual  mo- 
tion," or  to  "find  the  jDhilosopher's  stone,"  or 
to  explain  the  mysteries  of  Grod's  government 
by  the  aid  of  human  reason ;  but  I  have  never 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  find  the  man  who  could 
do  either  of  these.  You  have  probably  been 
an  inhabitant  of  this  world  less  than  twenty 
years,  and  I  suppose  you  would  not  pretend 
that  for  the  first  fifteen  years  jonr  reason  had 


THE  YOUNG  MAN'S  LETTER.  153 

very  great  power;  and  I  have  strong  sus- 
picions that  even  now  it  is  not  competent  to 
sit  in  judgment  upon  phms  which  must,  from 
the  very  nature  of  things,  take  all  time,  and 
no  small  part  of  eternity,  to  execute.  "  Great 
is  the  Lord,  and  his  understanding  is  infinite." 
Let  me  tell  j'ou  a  short  story. 

"Old  Jocko  "  and  "  Little  Imp  "  were  two 
favorite  monkeys  that  went  to  sea  in  the  good 
ship  Enterprise,  Captain  Munger.  Now,  this 
captain  had  the  name  of  being  a  first-rate  sea- 
man, a  man  of  fine  powers  of  mind,  upright, 
and  a  very  good  man.  Old  Jocko  was  an  old 
companion,  and  Little  Imp  was  a  new  comer. 
They  had  the  liberty  of  the  ship,  and  were  a 
great  amusement  to  the  sailors.  One  day, 
just  at  night,  old  Jocko  found  Imp  high  up  on 
the  3^ard-arm,  holding  on  for  very  life,  pale, 
hungry,  and  cold. 

"Halloa,  Imp;  what  are  you  doing  up 
there?"  cries  Jocko.  "You  have  been  there 
all  day ;  and  you  look  cold  and  hungry.  Why 
do  n't  yon  come  down  ?" 

"Why,  Jocko,  I  believe  I  sha'n't  come 
down  any  more." 

7* 


154  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

"  Indeed ;  what 's  the  matter  now  ?  What 
flea  has  got  into  your  ear?  Why  wont  you 
come  down  ?" 

"Because  I  have  lost  all  confidence  in 
Captain  Munger.  I  've  been  watching  him  all 
day,  and  my  7'eason  tells  me  that  if  he  were  a 
good  man  he  would  never  do  as  he  has  done 
to-day." 

"Well,  you  six-months-old  fellow,  what 
has  he  done  so  revolting  to  your  reason  ?" 

"I  will  tell  you:  this  morning  early  he 
stopped  the  ship  and  shifted  the  cargo  and 
threw  her  almost  over,  so  that  many  hogsheads 
of  molasses,  and  many  casks  of  something  else, 
rolled  into  the  sea  and  were  lost." 

"What  else,  Little  Imp?" 

"Then  after  the  ship  was  righted,  he  sent 
a  man  up  into  the  rigging  when  the  wind 
blew — I  could  hardly  cling  to  the  ropes  and 
hold  myself  on — and  the  man  was  thrown  off 
and  fell  on  the  deck  almost  killed.  He  lay 
pale,  and  they  said  that  the  thing  called 
"pulse"  stopped  entirely.  His  eyes  were 
closed,  and  the  cold  sweat  was  on  his  face. 
And  what  did  this  captain  then  do?     Why, 


THE  YOUNG  MAN'S  LETTER.  155 

he  ran  down  into  the  cabin  and  brought  up  a 
tumbler  of  red,  fiery  stuff,  and  actually  forced 
the  poor  fellow's  jaws  open  and  poured  it  all 
down  his  throat.  Now,  would  a  good  man 
do  so  ?" 

"  Are  3'ou  through  ?" 

"No.  There  was  that  great  dog,  Nero; 
the  dog  that  all  the  sailors  loved  so  much — 
only  he  looidd  chase  us  monkeys.  Poor  Nero ; 
the  captain  had  him  drawn  up  by  a  great  rope, 
and  then  with  a  great,  roaring  gun,  shot  him 
dead.  How  the  sailors  felt !  Many  of  them 
cried.     Was  that  goodness?" 

"Any  thing  more?" 

"Yes:  Tom  Hawser  was  showing  a  little 
wound  on  his  arm,  and  what  does  our  precious 
captain  do  but  whip  out  his  jack-knife  and  cut 
the  wound  much  larger.  Oh  how  it  bled !  It 
really  frightened  me." 

"Have  you  done?" 

"Yes;  and  1  should  think  that  w^as  quite 
enough.  I  can  never  have  any  more  confi- 
dence in  Captain  Munger.  My  reason  tells 
that  a  wise  and  a  good  man  would  never 
do  so." 


156  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

"Little  Imp,  liow  old  are  you?" 
"Why,  I've  seen  six  moons,  and  am  al- 
most as  high  as  your  shoulders.'' 

"  Well,  now  let  me  talk  a  little.  You  must 
know,  then,  Oh  wise  one,  that  the  ship  had  ' 
sprung  a  leak,  and  we  were  all  in  danger  of 
sinking;  and  to  get  at  the  leak  and  stop  it 
and  save  the  cargo  and  the  lives,  Captain 
Munger  had  to  careen  the  ship  on  her  side 
and  lose  a  few  hogsheads,  rather  than  to  lose 
all  the  cargo.  Was  that  wrong?  Then  the 
man  sent  up  into  the  rigging.  A  sudden 
squall  came  on,  and  the  sails  must  be  furled 
instantl}^,  or  the  ship  swamped;  and  all  the 
men  had  to  go  aloft.  One  was  blown  off;  but 
the  ship  escaped.  The  man  was  almost  kill- 
ed;  and  being  'ready  to  perish,'  the  captain 
did  pour  doAvn  raw  brandy,  which  brought 
back  life  and  pulse,  and  the  man  is  now  in  the 
good  captain's  berth,  carefully  nursed,  and 
will  live.     Was  that  a  bad  deed  ?" 

"  No ;  but  his  shooting  poor  Nero  ?" 
"Well,  Nero  has  been  sick  for  two  days, 
and  you  remember  he  was  bitten  by  a  strange 
dog  just  before  we  sailed,  and  so  he  was  tied 


THE  YOUNG  MAN'S  LETTER.  157 

np  with  that  rope ;  but  to-day  he  has  shown 
such  signs  of  madness,  that  the  captain  had  to 
kill  him.  The  sailors  cried ;  but  all  saw  the 
necessity." 

"  You  've  a  strange  way,  Jocko,  of  explain- 
ing things.  What  about  his  cutting  poor  Tom 
Hawser's  arm  so  dreadfully  ?  How  can  you 
account  for  such  cruelty  ?" 

"  Yery  easily.  As  Tom  was  pulling  Nero 
up,  the  dog  bit  his  arm,  and  the  captain  knew 
that  unless  something  was  done  instantly,  Tom 
must  have  awful  sufferings  and  die  with  hydro- 
phobia— the  most  horrible  death ;  and  so  he 
cut  out  the  poison  with  his  knife.  Now,  Lit- 
tle Imp,  you  see  your  'reason'  a'n't  big  enough 
to  comprehend  and  judge  as  to  what  Captain 
Hunger  does,  and  so  you  had  better  leave 
your  cold  perch  and  come  down  and  eat  your 
supper,  and  not  doubt  but  the  captain  knows 
what  he  is  about,  even  if  you  do  n't." 


158  niNTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

XXII. 

The  Old  Folks  at  Home. 

CajS"  my  reader,  witli  his  tenacious  mem- 
ory, tell  me  the  first  time  lie  heard  "the  old 
folks"  spoken  of?  I  wonder  what  they  did 
for  "old  folks"  in  the  days  before  the  flood, 
when  a  man  at  one  hundred  was  a  mere  boy — 
a  ten-year-old  boy!  When  no  young  lady 
could  get  through  her  education  and  be  intro- 
duced into  society  till  she  was  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  at  least!  When  no  one  could 
be  numbered  with  "the  old  folks"  under  six 
hundred  or  six  hundred  and  fifty  years  !  Did 
"the  old  folks"  appear  then  as  they  now  do? 
Did  they  feel  as  they  now  do?  How  did  Me- 
thuselah and  his  wife  feel  and  talk  as  they  sat 
down  together  and  looked  backward  and  for- 
ward? Doubtless  very  much  as  "the  old 
folks"  now  feel  and  talk. 

One  of  the  beautiful  arrangements  of  our 
heavenly  Father  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  every 
period,  infancy,  childhood,  youth,   manhood, 


THE  OLD  FOLKS  AT  HOME.  159 

and  ago,  has  a  golden  charm  attached  to  it. 
Each  phase  is  different  from  the  rest,  and  it 
is  hardly  possible  to  say  which  is  most  beau- 
tiful. The  beauty,  the  grace,  the  sunshine, 
the  early  morning  chatter  of  young  children, 
always  awakens  the  most  delightful  emotions. 
The  mischievousness  and  the  restlessness,  the 
magnifying  every  thing  seen  and  heard,  and 
the  sweet  credulity  of  childhood!  the  opening 
new  worlds  of  vision,  the  rising  up  from  the 
ground  of  untold  air  castles,  the  rainbow  hopes 
leaping  from  the  chambers  of  the  imagination 
of  youth!  the  sight  of  the  parents  in  the  re- 
fnicd  home,  watching  over  and  training  up 
their  large  family  of  children,  each  one  need- 
ing a  distinct  discipline  and  training!  and  then 
the  silver,  thoughtful,  almost  silent  and  soli- 
tary days  of  the  aged  pair!  which  is  most 
beautiful?     I  cannot  decide. 

I  am  now  thinking  of  an  aged  couple  who 
are  called  "the  old  folks,"  who  have  lived 
together,  husband  and  wife,  in  the  same  house,, 
over  fifty  years.  They  came  there  young,  san- 
guine, and  utterlj^  unable  to  conceive  what 
they  would  pass  through  in  fifty  3'ears.    They 


160  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

liave  reared  carefully,  and  properly  educated, 
a  large  family  of  cliildren.  These  have  all 
gone  from  them  now,  have  families  of  their 
own,  and  are  filling  each  an  important  place 
in  society,  and  some  of  them  high  posts  of  in- 
fluence. They  are  all  members  of  Christ's 
church  in  the  order  of  their  parents.  And  so 
"the  old  folks"  are  left  alone — just  as  they 
started  in  life.  They  have  long  worn  glasses ; 
but  at  the  hour  of  family  worship  they  take 
each  a  Bible  and  read  in  course  alternately 
two  verses — just  as  they  did  when  they  read 
with  their  children.  Then  they  sing  the  old 
hymns,  though  the  voices  are  not  so  sweet, 
nor  the  tones  so  clear  and  full  as  formerly. 
They  live,  it  is  plain  from  incidental  remarks, 
in  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future.  There 
are  certain  things  that  they  seldom  speak  of 
even  to  one  another.  They  keep  all  the  play- 
things which  their  children  once  used — osten- 
sibly for  their  grandchildren  when  they  come 
to  visit  them ;  but  the  forms  that  they  see 
playing  with  them  are  those  of  their  own  dear 
children,  who  have  gone  from  them,  but  who 
left  their  image  in  their  memory.     The  little 


THE  OLD  FOLKS  AT  HOME.  161 

books,  aud  even  the  little  shoes,  of  their  bright 
and  early  dead,  are  carefully  laid  up;  and 
though  they  never  sj^eak  of  them,  each  knows 
that  they  are  precious  mementoes  of  the  past. 
But  to  sec  how  careful  they  are  of  each 
other!  The  fires  of  passion  have  all  burned 
out,  the  beauty  and  freshness  of  life  have  all 
passed  away,  and  the  rich  harvests  of  Time 
have  all  been  garnered.  But  no  lovers  could 
be  more  tender  towards  each  other.  If  either 
is  absent,  the  time  is  anxiously  measured  till 
the  return ;  and  the  footstep  on  the  threshold 
may  not  be  elastic  as  it  returns,  yet  the  ear 
that  hears  it  and  the  heart  that  hears  it  are 
awake.  They  seem  to  understand  each  oth- 
er's thoughts  without  words,  and  each  feels 
that  life  would  not  be  life  without  the  other. 
They  think  over  the  past  much  and  often,  and 
realize  that  they  have  together  toiled,  and 
toG;ether  strusG-led  and  shared  all  the  burdens 
and  sorrows  of  life.  Every  memory  of  the 
past  is  equally  vivid  to  each.  They  don't  say 
much  about  their  separation — so  certain — to 
leave  one  or  the  other  so  desolate ;  but  it  is 
plain   they  think  much  about  it ;    and  from 


1G2  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

hints  occasionally  dropped,  it  is  evident  that 
each  is  contriving  and  planning  how  the  other 
can  be  made  comfortable  when  thus  left  alone, 
each  expecting  to  be  the  first  to  die. 

And  when  they  think  of  the  future,  even 
carrying  their  thoughts  into  heaven,  they  seem 
to  have  an  unexpressed  fear  that  heaven  will 
not  Tbe  all  they  desire,  if  they  can  there  be  to 
each  other  nothing  more  than  old  acquaintan- 
ces. It  seems  as  if  they  must  carry  something 
of  the  tender  feeling  which  the  sorrows  and  the 
experience  of  life  have  given  them,  into  that 
world,  and  as  if  they  must  go  hand  in  hand  for 
ever.  And  the  thought  that  they  must  soon 
separate,  and  that  the  one  must  be  left  to  walk 
alone  in  the  rooms,  sit  alone  at  the  old  table, 
kneel  alone  at  the  altar  of  Grod,  go  alone  to 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  gives  an  inexpressible 
tenderness  to  their  treatment  of  each  other. 
They  never,  even  in  the  dnjs  of  youthful 
courtship,  lived  more  in  each  other's  thoughts 
than  now.  Time  hath  covered  the  rough 
places  of  life,  over  which  they  have  walked ; 
and  years  have  healed  the  wounds  they  have 
suffered,  leaving  only  scars ;   but  the  rough 


THE  OLD  FOLKS  AT  HOME.  1G3 

winds  of  life  have  only  bowed  their  heads, 
and  you  see  not  the  sturdy  oak,  but  the  soft, 
weeping  willow.  Memory  brings  up  pictures 
of  the  past,  some  of  them  recalling  sorrows 
heavy  as  humanity  can  bear,  but  mellows 
them  down  in  her  own  golden  light;  and  Hope 
comes  still,  not  to  sing  of  earth,  as  she  once 
did,  but  of  heaven,  and  the  ever-opening 
future.  And  Faith^  showing  nothing  to  tlie 
eye,  contrives  to  exert  her  power  over  them 
b}"  mingling  her  voice  in  the  songs  of  Hope ! 

They  will  not  be  with  each  other  long; 
but  while  they  do  live,  no  part  of  their  life 
has  been  more  full  of  tender  regard,  genuine 
respect,  unaffected  kindness,  or  deeper  love. 
The  young  world  can't  understand  "the  old 
folks ;"  but  for  myself,  I  never  go  into  their 
dwelling  without  seeing  some  of  the  most 
purified,  refined,  and  exalted  traits  of  human 
nature,  Avhich  to  me  are  inimitably  beautiful. 
And  if  what  I  have  said  shall  lead  my  reader 
to  feel  more  kindly  towards  those  who  are  all 
around  us  known  as  "the  old  folks,"  I  shall 
have  gained  my  object  in  writing. 


164:  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 


XXIII. 

Philarguria. 
" For  Ihe  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil." "  1  Tim.  6  :  10. 

The  early  chemists  tried  Lard  to  discover 
two  tilings :  first,  a  method  by  which  they 
could  turn  every  thing  into  gold — forgetting 
that  if  the}^  could  do  it,  gold  would  have  no 
more  value  than  pebbles ;  and  second,  a  uni- 
versal solvent  that  would  dissolve  every  thing 
and  any  thing^ — forgetting  that  if  they  could 
do  it,  they  could  find  no  vessel  to  hold  the 
liquid. 

That  which  conies  nearest  to  a  universal 
solvent,  is  money,  in  some  shape.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  it  be  in  the  shape  of  coin,  sil- 
ver or  gold.  It  may  be  in  the  form  of  dia- 
monds and  jewels,  or  notes  equivalent  to 
money  and  received  for  money.  In  the  days 
of  the  apostles,  it  was  principally  in  the  shape 
of  silver,  and  therefore  "silver-loving,''  {i^hi- 
larguria,)  is  called  "the  root  of  all  evil."  Per- 
haps it  would  be  more  curious  than  profitable 


PHILARGURIA.  165 

to  attcini)t  to  analyze  the  feeling  ^Yllicll  we 
call  love  of  money.  It  certainly  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  beauty  of  the  treasure,  for  the 
idol  is  very  often  in  the  shape  of  well-thumbed 
notes,  or  worn  bonds  and  mortgages.  There 
is  nothing  of  the  brightness  of  silver  or  gold 
about  it.  The  image  of  the  miser  opening  and 
gloating  over  his  chest  full  of  gold,  has  no 
realit}^  If  he  kept  it  in  his  chest,  he  would 
see  nothing  but  bags.  Bonds  and  mortgages 
are  far  more  beautiful  to  him  than  real  gold. 
He  does  not  want  to  gloat  over  metallic  treas- 
ures. 

The  strongest,  deepest  passion  of  the  human 
soul  is  love  of  power.  Bear  this  in  mind.  The 
essence  of  money-loving  seems  to  be,  that 
money  gives  you  the  feeling  of  power,  and 
that  constant!}'.  The  possessor  rides  in  a 
crippled  old  wagon,  but  he  feels  that  he  might 
ride  in  a  coach  if  he  pleased.  He  passes  by 
your  beautiful  dwelling — not  caring  for  it,  be- 
cause he  knows  he  can  buy  ten  like  it  if  he 
chooses.  The  coach  rolls  past  him  and  dis- 
turbs him  not,  for  he  feels  conscious  that  he 
might  have  a  score  of  men  in  livery  about 


1G6  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

liim,  if  lie  cliose.  Feeling  that  tlie  tailor 
would  in  a  moment,  at  his  bidding,  prepare 
the  best  garments  to  be  had,  is  better  to  him 
than  to  have  the  clothes,  and  so  he  wears  his 
old  garments.  Reading  the  advertisement  of 
the  lordly  mansion  to  be  sold,  and  feeling  that 
he  could  own  it  in  an  hour  if  he  pleased, 
is  far  better  to  him  than  to  own  it.  Feeling 
that  he  could  own  a  whole  street,  gives  a 
sense  of  power,  without  the  trouble  of  owning, 
as  really  as  if  he  owned  it  all.  He  can  live 
in  a  poor  house,  wear  poor  clothing,  eat  poor 
food  very  contentedly,  since  he  knows  he  has 
an  agent  at  hand,  which  can  at  any  day  give 
him  the  grandest  and  the  best.  This  conscious 
power  is  to  him  a  higher  joy  than  to  have 
these  things.  It  makes  him  feel  that  he  car- 
ries a  silent  power  that  is  almost  superhuman. 
It  seems  to  cut  him  loose  from  dependency, 
and  make  him  almost  divine.  And  every 
accumulation,  every  increase  of  money,  in- 
creases this  feeling.  Hence  the  man  becomes 
a  slave  to  an  idea,  a  v/orshipper  of  a  power 
which  he  has  no  thought  of  ever  exercising. 
He  keeps  a  hungry  magician  shut  away  from 


PHILARGUEIA.  167 

human  sight,  wlioiii  he  feeds  with  the  life  of 
his  own  soul,  simply  because,  if  he  should 
w^ant  the  magician  to  wave  his  wand,  he  could 
make  him  do  it.  He  keeps  the  river  dammed 
up,  and  lets  the  waters  stagnate,  while  they 
accumulate,  and  the  pond  grows  larger,  be- 
cause of  the  feeling  that  if  he  chose,  he  could 
let  out  those  waters  in  a  power  that  would 
carry  any  number  of  mills,  or  clothe  millions 
in  new  and  warm  garments.  Hence  the  love 
of  money  is  only  another  form  of  love  of  powder, 
and  it  takes  deep  hold  of  the  human  soul,  and 
touches  the  same  springs  that  our  first  mother 
felt  when  she  desired  to  be  as  gods. 

It  is  power,  this  money.  If  you  want  pleas- 
ure, any  appetite  gratified,  any  passion  minis- 
tered to,  money  will  do  it.  If  you  want  any 
comfort  within  human  reach,  money  will  give 
it.  If  you  W'aiit  luxuries,  thousands  of  hands 
will  toil,  and  the  skill  of  your  generation  is 
at  your  command.  The  ships  will  bring  you 
splendors,  and  all  climes  will  respond  to  your 
orders.  If  you  want  standing  fimong  men, 
money  will  admit  you  into  the  courts  of  kings, 
and  into  the  bowers  of  queens.     If  you  want 


1G8  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

influence,  you  know  that  if  you  have  money 
enough,  you  can  make  Wall-street  tremble  as 
you  walk.  You  feel  that  you  can  open  or 
shut,  and  no  man  resist.  ' '  I  can  in  one  month 
shut  up  every  factory  of  this  article  in  the 
land,"  said  a  great  manufacturer  to  me.  Is 
not  this  power  and  influence  ?  The  high-priests 
of  mammon  are  a  mighty  power  in  every  civ- 
ilized land.  They  command  the  markets,  con- 
trol the  rate  of  interest,  decide  what  men  shall 
wear,  make  food  plenty  or  scarce,  make  busi- 
ness flourish  or  droop,  or  cause  a  panic  that 
shall  distress  a  nation.  They  move  and  con- 
trol the  floating  property  already  created,  and 
the  credit  and  industry  that  are  creating  more. 
Every  dollar  added  increases  this  power.  The 
rich  is  insolent,  and  the  poor  is  fawning  and 
servile,  not  because  they  are  any  different,  but 
because  one  is  conscious  that  he  has  power, 
and  the  other,  that  he  has  none.  Money 
would  disqualify  any  man  for  being  a  boot- 
black. I  am  sorr}^  too,  to  allow  that  money 
is  becoming  the  standard  of  right  and  wrong ; 
that  it  is  more  and  more  concentrating  in 
fewer  hands,  and  that  one  of  our  greatest  dan- 


PHILARGURIA,  169 

.gers  now  is,  that  of  having  in  this  nation  that 
meanest,  most  destructive  and  corrupting  of 
all  aristocracies,  a  money  aristocracy. 

It  is  very  plain  then,  is  it  not,  why  this 
passion  is  so  strong  ?  It  is  latent  power.  It 
is  a  great  army  of  reserve.  It  is  unseen 
efficiency.  It  is  the  bolts  of  Jupiter  hid  away 
in  a  coarse  stocking.  It  is  a  direct  feeder  to 
the  ambition  of  the  soul.  The  same  desire  of 
power  which  makes  one  man  a  tj^rant  or  a 
usurper,  or  a  reckless  warrior,  makes  another 
a  money-lover.  Hence  too,  the  passion  is 
universal.  It  is  more  than  weakness  to  pre- 
tend that  any  one  is  free  from  this  love  of 
mone}^  His  neighbors  would  laugh  at  the 
pretence,  and  say  that  if  he  gives  up  in  the 
race,  it 's  because  he  can't  run.  Let  the  most 
indifferent  to  money  suddenly  inherit  an  es- 
tate, and  see  if  the  passion  is  not  there.  We 
should  deny  the  organic  laws  of  human  nature, 
to  expect  any  one  to  be  free  from  it.  The 
beggarly  elements  of  this  world  are  the  food, 
but  it  is  the  infinite,  though  perverted  great- 
ness of  the  human  soul,  to  which  they  are 
trying  to  minister. 

BtnU.  8 


170  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

You  will  notice  how  clear,  simple,  strong, 
and  almost  terrific  are  the  words  of  my  text, 
"  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil" — 
the  parent  of  all  sin — mater  omnium  malorum: 
Schleusner. 

You  know  something  of  the  cheating  that 
is  constantly  practised  among  men,  so  that  you 
don't  expect  full  measure  in  wood  that  you 
buy,  the  best  quality  in  the  hay  or  the  goods 
you  engage,  or  to  have  many  things  as  good 
as  you  bargain  for.  You  say  that  men  cheat 
in  horses  more  than  in  any  thing  else.  If  they 
do,  it  is  simply  because  it  is  easier  to  do  it 
than  in  other  things.  When  you  buy  a  gar- 
ment, or  a  pair  of  shoes,  you  want  the  testi- 
mony of  a  careful  examination  with  your  own 
eyes  superadded  to  the  word  of  the  seller. 
You  feel  the  need  of  looking  after  all  that  you 
deal  with.  Now  this  "love  of  money"  is  the 
parent  of  these  ten  thousand  little  frauds. 
Don't  you  know  at  least  several  around  you 
with  whom  you  would  rather  not  trade  ?  This 
desire  for  money  has  to  be  met  by  all  the  laws 
you  can  make,  by  all  the  courts  of  justice,  and 
all  the  prisons  of  the  land.      How  quickly 


PHILARGURIA.  171 

would  the  land  be  lilled  with  lotteries  and 
gambling  rooms  and  Sunday  sports,  if  law 
did  not  come  in  and  interfere  between  this 
love  of  money  and  these/  corrupting  methods 
of  obtaining  it?  In  all  countries  where  the 
lawmakers  are  not  in  advance  of  the  mass 
of  the  people,  lotteries  and  gambling  are  un- 
limited, and  feed  the  fires  of  this  passion. 
Gambling  houses  are  called  "hells,"  because 
they  call  out  this  love  of  money,  and  kindle 
the  passion  so  fast  that  the  man  is  quickly 
turned  into  a  demon,  and  a  temporary  "hell" 
is  created.  You  are  not  surprised  to  read  that 
government  contractors  and  public  servants 
and  bank  and  railroad  directors  are  "default- 
ers"— a  soft  modern  term  for  high-handed 
villany ;  nor  that  this  and  that  man  who  had 
great  trusts  committed  to  him  has  absconded, 
carrying  with  him  all  that  he  could  obtain. 
You  are  not  surprised  to  hear  that  this  love 
of  money  breaks  open  banks,  wrenches  off 
locks,  bursts  open  safes,  rides  on  the  railroad, 
carries  off  the  treasures  of  the  express,  and 
breaks  and  burns  and  tears  and  murders  his 
way  to  money ;  mocking  at  law,  setting  at  de- 


172  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

fiance  your  care  and  your  bolts,  daring  your 
l^risons,  and  laughing  at  punishment.  What 
is  the  power  of  that  passion  which  creates  at 
least  nine-tenths  of  all  the  business  of  our 
courts,  and  sends  at  least  nine-tenths  of  all 
our  criminals  to  the  penitentiary;  that  has 
most  to  do  in  sending  men  to  the  insane  asy- 
lum ;  which  makes  a  constant  warfare  between 
crime  and  justice ;  which  calls  for  the  revolver 
so  often;  and  which  defaces  and  deforms  so 
much  of  human  character  ? 

It  is  this  passion  that  builds  the  great  dis- 
tillery, and  keeps  the  fires  glowing  day  and 
night,  regardless  and  remorseless  as  to  the 
ruin  that  ilows  far  and  wide  in  consequence. 
The  distiller  don't  think  of  the  appetite  of  the 
drunkard,  but  he  does  think  of  the  enormous 
profits  of  his  business.  So  that  love  of  money 
is  the  direct  parent  of  every  distillery  in  the 
world,  and  of  all  the  sorrows  and  crimes 
created  by  it. 

The  theatres  which  crowd  our  cities,  and 
which  are  so  many  illuminated  gateways  to 
ruin,  are  built  and  their  actors  trained  by  this 
passion.     T^ot  for  the  honor  or  reputation — 


PHILAEGUEIA.  173 

for  virtuous  society  will  for  ever  exclude 
such — but  because  money  can  be  made  quickly 
and  abundantly,  do  they  exist.  The  question 
is  never  asked,  Will  the  theatre  be  for  the 
good  of  the  community?  or,  Will  it  destroy  the 
young?  AYill  it  be  a  blessing,  or  a  curse?  but, 
Will  it  bring  money?  The  owner  of  the  the- 
atre and  the  actor  care  nothing  about  the 
community  any  further  than  as  a  means  of 
making  money.  It  is  this  love  of  money 
which  builds  and  makes  all  the  theatres  in  the 
world  what  they  are ;  and  hence  I  only  say 
what  you  all  know,  when  I  say  the  love  of 
money  is  the  root  of  all  evil.'=' 

If  3'ou  look  into  families  and  trace  the 
secret  workings  of  the  disorders  that  end  in 
separations,  allowances,  divorces,  and  ruin, 
you  will  find  that  the  desire  for  money  is  the 
cause  far  oftener  than  is  usually  supposed. 

The  piracies  on  the  ocean,  to  prevent  which 
all  civilized  nations  have  to  join  in  a  continual 

*  I  see  by  the  papers  that  in  one  of  our  cities,  the  income  of 
about  a  dozen  theatres  has  been,  for  six  months,  but  little  short  of 
seven  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  that  is,  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand,  on  the  average,  to  each  establishment  a  year.  Suppose 
it  cost  as  much  to  support  a  dozen  churches.  Each  theatre  would 
sustain  at  least  two  colleges. 


174  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

patroi  of  oceans  and  seas,  as  is  plain,  come 
from  this  love  of  money.  It  is  easier  to  steal 
and  rob  than  to  earn.  So  that  the  love  of 
money  is  the  root  of  all  piracies. 

Then  the  murders  that  are  so  frequent,  prob- 
ably in  eight  cases  out  of  ten  grow  out  of  the 
same  cause.  The  calendars  of  our  courts, 
were  they  at  hand,  would,  I  feel  sure,  amaze 
the  community  by  revealing  the  proportion  of 
murders  that  originate  in  this  love  of  money. 
Slavery  too,  with  all  its  evils  entailed  on 
the  master  and  on  the  bondman,  is  caused  by 
this  master  passioR,  I  am  aware  that  it  grati- 
fies the  love  of  power  in  two  waj^s :  first,  by 
giving  the  owner  of  the  slave  direct  control 
over  his  body  and  soul ;  and  secondly,  by 
placing  all  that  the  slave  earns  in  the  hands 
of  the  master,  so  that  he  feels  the  power  which 
money  gives  ;  and  when  a  man  has  in  his  hand 
the  power  which  will  buy  hundreds  of  men, 
soul  and  body,  and  their  posterity  after  them, 
you  cannot  doubt  that  he  is  conscious  of  his 
power,  and  must  be  a  wonderful  specimen  of 
humanity  not  to  be  proud  and  arrogant.  Slav- 
ery ministers  to  this  love  of  power  directly 


PHILARGUEIA.  175 

and  strongly,  and  wc  arc  not  surprised  at  the 
results  which  have  been  manifested  in  our  day. 
Slavery  grows  out  of  this  root  directly. 

The  same  remark  wall  very  nearly  apply 
to  wars.  The  friction  of  commerce  and  the 
driving  of  trade  gives  opportunities  for  the  in- 
fringement of  treaties,  for  the  violation  of  jus- 
tice, for  appeals  and  reprisals,  for  smuggling 
and  concealment,  till  nations  become  sore,  and 
the  result  is  wars.  I  am  not  able,  of  course, 
to  tell  the  precise  proportion  of  the  wars 
which  have  desolated  the  earth  which  might 
be  traced  back  to  the  love  of  money  5  but  I 
feel  sure,  a  very  large  proportion.  We  all 
know  that  this  deep  love  of  money  had  much 
to  do  with  our  late  civil  war,  leaving  a  history 
that  will  make  the  ears  of  the  world  to  tingle 
for  a  long  time  to  come. 

The  grinding  of  the  poor,  the  oppression 
of  the  needy,  the  bowing  down  of  the  feeble, 
the  shuffling  in  bargains,  the  concealment  in 
tax-paying,  the  strifes  at  law,  and  a  mass  of 
wickedness  and  crime,  are  sown  broadcast  by 
the  hand  of  avarice  all  over  the  earth. 

If  I  am  right  in  these  views,  you  see  that 


176  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

the  love  of  money  is  not  the  deepest  passion 
of  the  soul ;  but  is  a  direct  minister  to  one 
that  is  deeper — the  love  of  power,  the  master 
passion  of  the  human  soul;  and  we  want  money 
to  gratify  that.  I  think  it  is  plain  that  this  is 
so,  from  the  fact  that  this  love  of  power  is  the 
earliest  passion  developed  in  the  child,  the 
strongest  in  manhood,  and  the  last  that  dies, 
even  if  it  does  die,  in  age.  We  all,  the  poor 
and  the  rich,  have  it;  but  we  are  not  all 
equally  successful  in  gratifying  our  desires. 
You  can  outgrow  other  sins,  wear  out  animal 
passions,  outlive  the  desire  for  show  and  the 
pleasures  of  life.  The  old  man  don't  want 
fashions,  nor  the  dance,  nor  boon  companion- 
ship, nor  office,  nor  honors ;  but  he  does  want 
money ;  that  is  a  power  which  his  feeble  hand 
can  grasp ;  it  is  a  power  he  can  feel.  Other 
temptations  lose  their  power,  desires  fail,  oth- 
er sins  drop  off  as  you  pass  along ;  but  covet- 
ousness  never  grows  cold — avarice  is  alwaj^s 
j^oung.  The  old  man  can't  make  bargains, 
but  he  can  reckon  and  rereckon  up  his  inter- 
est, and  calculate  dividends — Oh  how  he  loves 
to  do  it  over  and  over — and  know  just  how 


PniLARGURIA.  177 

much  he  will  be  worth  next  year,  and  five 
3'ears  hence.  This  devil  follows  the  soul  and 
engages  the  thoughts  everywhere.  In  the 
house  of  God  the  work  goes  on ;  and  I  am  not 
-lincharitable  in  fearing  that  it  often  follows  us 
to  the  communion-table,  and  even  into  the  pul- 
pit. Your  own  conscience  will  tell  you  whether 
this  is  so  or  not.  Every  man  knows  that  it 
grows  upon  him  with  years,  and  unless  he  is 
more  than  careful,  becomes  his  master.  It  is 
strong  in  the  soul,  even  when  the  hand  is  too 
feeble  to  hold  the  evidence  of  possession. 

You  will  wish  me,  I  hope,  before  I  close 
and  leave  this  subject,  to  say  a  few  words  as 
to  the  REMEDIES  to  bc  used  to  destroy,  or  at 
least  to  counteract  this  great  passion  in  the 
human  soul. 

1.  Understand  then,  that  the  love  of  money 
is  only  something  that  ministers  to  a  higher 
passion — the  love  of  power,  the  desire  for  in- 
dependence, the  same  thing  that  turned  angels 
into  devils,  and  drove  our  first  parents  out  of 
Eden.  It  is  the  feeling  that  would  dethrone 
God,  and  cut  the  creature  loose  from  him.     It 

is  self-idolatry.     The  love  of  money  is  minis- 
8* 


178  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

teriiig  to  the  strongest  passion  in  any  deprav- 
ed being.  It  is  not  to  be  laughed  down.  It 
has  its  roots  in  the  deepest  places.  It  is  a 
rival,  and  the  rival  of  your  Maker;  and  the 
contest  is,  which  shall  be  enthroned  in  the 
heart  and  rule  your  spirit.  Will  you  be  a 
Grod,  or  a  subject?  And  just  in  proportion  as 
you  give  way  to  this  love  of  money,  you  feed 
a  conscious  power  which  must  separate  you 
further  and  further  from  God.  You  don't 
stop  at  the  pile  you  accumulate.  The  mighty 
engine  that  drives  you  to  accumulate  so  eager- 
ly, lies  back  of  the  property — it  is  that  deejD, 
unuttered  desire  to  be  powerful  as  fate,  and 
independent  as  Grod.  Money  is  only  the  food 
for  the  dragon  that  lives  deep  in  the  temple, 
and  which  grows  by  all  that  is  brought  to  it. 
To  make  the  soul  safe  then,  the  first  thing  is 
to  enthrone  Grod  in  the  heart ;  he  can  fill  it ; 
and  instead  of  trying  to  become  an  independ- 
ent power,  you  lean  upon  him.  You  don't 
feel  the  need  of  power.  You  partake  of  the 
power  of  omnipotence.  When  you  have  power  \ 
given  you  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  you 
do  n't  want  this  creature-power,  and  you  par- 


PniLAKGURIA.  179 

take  of  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead.  Cease  to 
attempt  to  work  an  independent  machinery. 
Make  God  all  in  all,  and  this  overpowering 
desire  for  money  ceases.  You  curtail  its 
power  by  bringing  the  soul  into  syrajjathy 
with  God's  great  nature  and  plans  and  ar- 
rangements. The  love  of  money  is  the  root 
of  all  evil,  because  it  feeds  a  desire  to  cut 
away  from  God,  and  take  our  destiny  into  our 
own  hands. 

2.  If  you  wish  to  be  delivered  from  this 
love  of  money,  then  give  freely. 

I  trust  you  can  see  a  new  reason  why  "  it 
is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 
Giving  diminishes  the  consciousness  of  power. 
Accumulation,  even  in  receiving,  increases  it. 
Giving  creates  a  new  feeling — the  love  of  con- 
ferring happiness,  and  this  weakens  the  love 
of  money.  If  now  you  are  conscious  that  you 
love  to  add  up  and  calculate  your  property, 
and  think  how  much  more  you  are  to  be  worth 
next  year  than  you  are  now,  depend  upon  it 
you  are  cultivating  the  master  passion  of  the 
soul.  Your  only  safety  is  to  give  away,  give 
freely  and  often,  not  merely  as  a  duty,  but  as 


180  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

a  matter  of  self-preservation.  It  is  the  safe- 
ty-valve which,  you  must  open  often.  If  you 
wish  to  counteract  a  power  that  will  cling  to 
you  in  old  age,  and  follow  you  even  to  the 
coffin,  then  don't  be  afraid  of  giving  freely. 
And  hence,  when  I  make  a  plea  for  benevo- 
lence, you  see  that  I  feel  I  am  doing  that 
which  will  be  for  your  safety  and  blessedness. 
Grod  or  mammon  must  have  the  heart,  and  all 
we  can  do  to  dethrone  mammon  is  for  your 
good.  You  starve  a  passion  by  taking  away 
its  food ;  and  giving  is  one  of  those  kind  pro- 
visions which  Providence  has  made  to  prevent 
the  soul  from  becoming  a  self-worshipper. 
Eemember  that  ' '  the  covetous  man  whom  the 
Lord  abhorreth,"  is  constantly  feeding  the 
deepest  passion  of  a  depraved  spirit.  There- 
fore do  n't  hesitate  to  give  freely ;  for  without 
doing  it,  you  will  most  certainly  be  ruined  by 
the  love  of  money. 

3.  You  must  pray  fervently  against  the 
love  of  money. 

One  difficulty  you  meet  with  in  regard  to 
this  subject  is,  that  it  is  so  easy  to  cover  up 
the  love  of  money  with  specious  names.    Econ- 


PHILARGUEIA.  181 

omy  is  a  duty ;  and  avarice  presses  this  duty 
into  his  service,  and  we  think  we  are  only 
economical,  when  we  are  covetous.  You  must 
provide  for  your  own  family,  and  avarice  in- 
terprets this  to  mean,  get  and  keep  all  that 
you  possibly  can.  Foresight  and  prudence 
are  virtues,  but  perverted  by  avarice,  they 
are  fearful  sins.  I  don't  think  I  have  yet 
seen  a  man  who  thoudit  he  was  covetous. 
Among  all  the  prayers  I  have  heard  in  the 
prayer-meeting,  and  the  deep  confessions  of 
sin  made,  I  have  never  yet  heard  the  sin  of 
covetousness  confessed.  The  sin  is  so  univer- 
sal, so  hidden  and  so  powerful,  that  we  are 
hardly  conscious  of  its  existence.  And  be- 
cause you  don't  and  wont  confess  it  in  public 
prayer,  there  is  the  more  need  that  you  pray 
over  it  in  secret. 

Now,  my  reader,  are  you  conscious  that 
you  have  ever  earnestly  prayed  over  this 
great  danger,  this  loving  money,  which  is  the 
root  of  all  evil?  Other  sins  destroy  the  body,, 
make  you  feeble,  prematurely  old ;  but  this 

« 

dries  up   the   soul,  withers  the   sympathies, 
hardens  the  heart,  and  makes  men  feel  that 


182  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

they  are  gods,  and  may  secretly  gloat  over 
the  possession  of  a  power  which  makes  them 
safe,  till  the  separation  between  the  soul  and 
God  is  too  wide  even  for  the  cross  of  Christ 
and  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ever  to 
diminish.  Oh  man  of  God,  if  there  be  any 
one  thing  for  which  yon  onght  fervently  to 
pray,  it  is  that  you  may  be  saved  from  loving 
money,  which  "is  the  root  of  all  evil." 


TOBACCO-EAISINa  CHRISTIANS.      183 

XXIV. 

Tobacco-Raising    Christians. 

No  one  need  be  alarmed  at  my  caption. 
I  don't  profess  to  be  a  teacher — on  tobacco. 
I  am  seeking  light.  But  I  have  such  earnest 
requests  coming  from  Pleasant  Valley,  and 
elsewhere,  asking  my  opinion  on  this  subject, 
that  I  am  at  a  loss  what  to  do.  Not  having 
raised,  chewed,  or  smoked  a  hill  of  tobacco, 
or  ever  having  an  ancestor,  so  far  as  I  know, 
that  did,  alas,  how  poorly  qualified  am  I  to 
discuss  this  great  matter.  They  tell  me  that 
the  fairest  portions  of  New  England  are  be- 
coming covered  with  the  plant,  and  that  all 
classes,  farmers,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  dea- 
cons— all  except  ministers — have  gone  into 
tobacco-raising;  that  in  the  beautiful  Pleas- 
ant Valley  all  the  church  members,  all  even 
to  Deacon  Swineburne,  who  held  out  to  the 
last,  have  gone  into  it.  They  thought  that  the 
deacon  would  stand 

•'faithful  found, 
Among  the  faithless  faithful  only  he." 


184  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

But  the  tide  was  too  strong,  the  fashion 
too  universal,  the  gains  too  large,  and  he,  the 
last  of  the  church,  has  so  far  put  off  the  gar- 
ments of  light  as  to  enable  him  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  his  life — in  raising  tobacco ! 

Now,  my  dear  Deacon  Swineburne,  will 
you  please  sit  down  and  let  me  ask  you  a  few 
questions,  just  for  information ;  for  I  confess 
my  ignorance.  Let  me  talk,  not  with  your 
purse,  nor  your  neighbors,  but  with  your  con- 
science. 

You  are  going  this  season,  they  tell  me,  to 
raise  tobacco.  Of  course  you  want  to  raise 
all  3"ou  possibly  can ;  and  you  want  the  sun- 
shine and  the  dew  and  the  rain  carefully 
poured  on  your  field.  And  you  know  very 
well  that  every  thriftless  husband,  and  every 
rowdy,  and  every  widow's  son  who  smokes  or 
chews,  helps  to  raise  the  price.  You  know 
that  the  great  amount  of  tobacco  used  is  by 
the  poor,  and  that  to  get  it  they  will  and  do 
deprive  their  wives  of  clothing  and  their  chil- 
dren of  bread.  Now  the  question  I  wish  first 
to  ask :  Is  this  article  a  Messing  to  the  world  ? 
Wheat,  corn,  cattle,  every  thing  for  the  sus- 


TOBACCO-rwVISING  CHRISTIANS.      185 

tenance  of  the  liumau  body,  is  a  blessing.  Is 
tobacco?  Do  you  tliiuk,  honestly,  that  if  every 
man,  woman,  child,  minister,  and  deacon,  in 
the  land  should  go  ta  smoking  or  chewing  this 
3^ear,  and  raise  your  crop  fivefold  in  value, 
the  effect  would  be  good  on  human  happiness, 
on  revivals  of  religion,  and  on  the  salvation 
of  the  earth?  How  is  it  in  Pleasant  Yalley, 
deacon?  I  am  told  you  not  only  all  raise  it, 
but  all  use  it,  fathers,  sons,  nephews,  and 
neighbors,  all  use  it  plentifully  and  more  and 
more.  Well,  sir,  is  your  church  spiritual  in 
proportion?  are  your  prayer-meetings  well 
attended  and  your  prayers  all  fervent?  Are 
your  young  people  turning  to  the  Lord  and 
giving  the  dew  of  their  youth  to  him,  or  are 
they  seeking,  in  gayety  and  amusements,  to 
shut  God  out  of  all  their  thoughts?  You  know 
how  this  is,  and  you  can  form  a  pretty  clear 
estimate  how  far  this  increase  of  tobacco-using 
is  to  elevate  the  piety  of  your  church,  prepare 
the  way  for  a  revival,  and  bring  the  blessing 
of  Christ  upon  your  Zion.  You  may  think 
these  are  not  proper  questions.  Perhaps  not. 
I  told  you  I  was  ignorant  and  want  light. 


186  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Another  thing,  my  clear  deacon ;  you  pray 
daily,  I  trust;  fervently,  I  hope.  Well,  sir, 
can  you  pray  heartily  on  this  business,  and 
ask  the  Lord  to  send  you  rain,  for  your  tobacco 
will  suffer;  to  keep  away  the  frosts,  or  they 
will  kill  your  tobacco?  And  the  worms — what 
mischievous  fellows !  Why,  I  am  told  you 
have  to  hunt  them  one  by  one,  and  crush 
them  without  mercy,  or  else  they  will  eat  up 
your  tobacco,  and  become  great,  disgusting 
creatures.  How  could  they  become  any  thing 
else?  Well,  do  you  pray  about  the  worms, 
and  thus  obtain  the  aid  of  Providence  to  keep 
them  down?  Parson  Harms  prayed  for  his 
hees,  a  great  dependence  of  his  poor  people 
for  support ;  and  Rowland  Hill  prayed  for  his 
sick  horse,  which  he  much  needed  to  carry 
him  to  his  preaching-places ;  and  why  may  not 
you  pray  about  the  tobacco-worms?  Do  you 
think  they  will  be  very  mischievous  this  year? 
As  you  are  going  into  the  business  for  the 
first  time  this  year,  you  will,  of  course,  em- 
brace all  in  your  prayers  that  ought  to  be 
included,  and  I  thought  that  perhaps  you 
might  forget  the  worms!     I  am  very  ignorant 


TOBACCO-EAISING  CHRISTIANS.      187 

on  the  subject.  I  am  told  that  your  valley  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  in  the  world, 
and  that  it  is  all  now  to  be  turned  into  a  huge 
tobacco-field.  Well,  sir,  have  you  a  doubt  as 
to  the  result — that  within  half  a  century  it 
will  be  exhausted,  burnt  up,  dried  np,  and 
cursed,  just  as  the  beautiful  fields  of  Virginia 
have  been  by  the  same  process?  You  can't 
enrich  your  lands  except  by  raising  grass  and 
stock,  and  that  you  can't  long  do  if  you  fer- 
tilize your  fields  to  raise  tobacco.  The  ques- 
tion I  wish  to  ask  here  is.  Are  you  willing 
to  do  your  part  to  burn  over,  destroy,  and 
utterly  ruin  your  beautiful  place?  The  result 
is  inevitable.  A  tobacco-raising  place  must 
and  will  eventually  run  out  and  become  poor. 
Tiy  it  as  long  as  Virginia  has,  and  see  what 
the  results  will  be!  And  when,  in  after-years, 
some  poor  creature,  with  his  pipe  in  his  mouth, 
shall  stand  at  your  grave  and  read  your  name, 
will  he  bless  you,  even  though  you  were  the 
greatest  tobacco-raising  Christian  in  the  whole 
valley?    I  ask  for  information. 

You  know  that  our  dear  Saviour  when  on 
earth  was  a  mechanic — a  carpenter.     Do  you 


188  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

believe  lie  ever  did  or  would  have  made  dice- 
boxes  to  sell,  even  though  they  might  have 
brought  a  very  high  price  ?  You  can't  answer 
that  question,  perhaps.  Well,  I  will  so  put  it 
that  you  can  answer  it.  He  might  have  been 
a  farmer  instead  of  a  mechanic.  Suppose  he 
had  been,  and  his  life  had  been  spent  in  your 
sweet  valley  till  he  began  his  ministry,  do  you 
believe  he  would  have  raised  tobacco?  Can 
you  imagine  such  a  thing?  You  can  believe 
that  Peter  might  "go  a  fishing"  and  Paul 
make  tents,  but  can  you  conceive  of  them  as 
tobacco-raisers?  You  know,  too,  that  in  these 
times  of  high  prices,  we  ministers  have  to  cut 
very  close,  far  closer  than  you  have  any  idea 
of;  we  don't  want  to  be  talking  about  salaries 
and  money,  and  we  do  shudder  to  run  in 
debt.  What  say  you,  shall  we  too  turn  in 
and  raise  tobacco  ?  Would  it  not  make  every 
one  feel  humble  and  confess  that  he  was  "a 
worm,"  if  not  a  tobacco-worm,  -'and  no  man?" 
What  do  you  wish  us  to  do?  We  can,  I  doubt 
not,  raise  good  tobacco.  I  ask,  you  see,  for 
information,  nothing  else  ;  and  surely  our  good 
Christian  friends  won't  let  us  be  pinched,  if  by 


TOBACCO-BAISING  CHRISTIANS.      189 

showing  us  a  little  we  can  raise  the  weed  as 
well  as  they.  What  do  you  say  to  that,  good 
Deacon  Swineburne? 

"Every  body  uses  tobacco."  Not  so  fast. 
No  decent  woman  uses  it;  and  thus  we  have 
half  the  world  exempt.  No  child  uses  it,  un- 
less by  long  teaching  it  learns.  The  greater 
part  of  the  world  loathe  it.  But  many  do  use 
it,  we  confess.  Not  long  since  a  gentleman 
with  a  cigar  in  his  mouth,  told  me  that  his 
"cigars  cost  him  annually  more  than  the  bread 
for  all  his  family,"  and  that  family  was  large. 
The  ladies,  kind  souls,  will  endure  smoking 
and  chewing,  any  thing  that  we,  the  other  sex, 
claim  for  our  comfort.  But  now  and  then  one, 
like  the  usually  good-natured  Miss  Mitford, 
will  break  out.  "Whenever,"  says  she,  Works, 
p.  335,  "  one  thinks  of  Sir  Walter  Kaleigh  as 
the  importer  of  this  disgusting  and  noisome 
weed,  it  tends  greatly  to  mitigate  the  horror 
which  one  feels  for  his  unjust  execution.  Had 
he  been  only  beheaded  as  the  inventor  ol 
smoking,  all  would  have  been  right." 

Now  I  don't  want  to  be  too  positive,  and 
so  I  ask  as  a  learner.    And,  good  deacon,  if 


190  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

you  are  to  become  a  tobacco-raising  Christian, 
and  the  business  is  all  right  and  useful,  and 
such  as  you  will  be  willing  to  spend  your  life 
in,  and  for  which  you  are  willing  to  be  judged 
at  last,  why,  God  speed  thee.  May  you  pros- 
per so  that  it  can  be  engraved  on  your 
tomb-stone,  "Here  lies  Deacon  Swineburne, 
a  devoted  Christian,  an  uncovetous  disciple, 
and — the  greatest  tobacco-raiser  that  ever 
lived  and  died  in  Pleasant  Yalley." 


A  QUEEE  OLD  LADY.  191 


XXV. 

A  OuEEi\  Old  Lady. 

How  diflfereiit  people  appear  at  different 
times ;  as  when  we  are  sick  or  well,  rejoicing 
or  mourning,  laughing  or  weeping.  A  few 
days  since  I  met  an  old  lady  who  nodded 
very  familiarly  to  me,  and  yet  T  hesitated  to 
call  her  by  name,  lest  I  should  miscall  it. 
She  looked  old,  and  yet  young ;  soft  and  smil- 
ing, and  yet  wore  stern  frowns.  She  was  fair 
in  face,  yet  her  hands  were  iron.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  wind  would  blow  her  away,  and  yet 
she  moved  with  the  strength  of  an  elephant. 

"  Why,  sir,"  said  she,  "you  seem  to  stare 
at  me,  though  you  have  seen  me  a  thousand 
times  before." 

"  That  may  be,  madam,  but  I  never  saw 
you  so  loaded  down  with  all  sorts  of  things. 
I  am  curious  to  know  about  them.  Would  it 
be  rude  if  I  should  ask  you  a  few  questions?" 

"  Not  at  all.    Ask  away." 


192  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

"Well,  what  are  you  going  to  do  with 
those  small,  thin,  ladies'  shoes  ?" 

"  Why,  make  the  ladies  wear  them,  to  be 
sure." 

"Not  this  cold,  wet  season!  Why,  I  can 
hardly  keep  my  feet  warm  in  these  thick, 
double-soled  boots.  I  must  have  overshoes. 
How  can  they  wear  such  thin,  cold-catching 
shoes  ?" 

"0  sir,  I  have  only  to  bring  them  to 
them,  and  the  dear  creatures  put  them  on, 
and  never  hesitate  a  moment.  They  know 
me." 

' '  And  those  little  half-dresses  hanging  on 
your  arm  ?" 

"They  are  to  be  put  on  little  children  in 
cold  weather,  or  to  walk  out  in ;  naked  at  the 
knees,  naked  at  the  neck,  and  hardly  cover- 
ing half  the  bod}^  You  can't  think  how  eager 
parents  are  for  these  dresses." 

"  What  have  you  in  this  little  tin  box  ?" 

"Lozenges,  sir;  troches,  hoarhound  can- 
dy— things  that  always  go  with  thin  shoes  and 
thin  dresses.  And  this  bright,  red  box,  sir, 
contains  what   is   called    'conscience   salve,' 


A  QUEER  OLD  LADY.  193 

which  I  always  keep  on  hand  to  rub  on  the 
conscience  when  any  one  feels  that  he  has 
done  wrong  in  obeying  me.  It's  in  great 
demand,  sir,  and  a  certain  cure." 

"  What  have  j^ou  in  that  bundle,  madam?" 
"This?  Why,  a  few  knick-knacks  which 
I  sometimes  distribute  in  Sabbath-schools,  in 
the  shape  of  dialogues,  speeches — things  to 
make  people  laugh,  and  to  prevent  the  school 
from  feeling  too  serious,  or  thinking  too  much 
about  religion.  You  must  understand,  sir, 
that  I  continually  have  to  attend  church  to 
regulate  things  there,  and  see  that  the  bonnets 
are  right,  the  rings  are  bright,  and  dresses 
complete ;  yet  religion  itself  I  hate  as  poison. 
And  here  is  a  box  of  the  finest — what  shall  I 
call  it?  It  is  a  sort  of  wit  and  smartness, 
which  I  deal  out  to  preachers,  with  which  they 
spice  their  sermons,  and  become  popular.  I 
sell  them  by  the  gross.  They  are  growing  in 
demand,  and  they  are  a  real  saving  of  con- 
science and  heart-ache.  Warranted  to  keep 
in  any  climate — a  kind  of  sensation-powder." 
"Pray,  madam,  what  are  those  screws 
for?" 


194  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

"Why,  to  pinch  the  feet,  and  make  them 
look  small,  without  regard  to  corns  and  bun- 
ions. They  can't  wear  those  little,  dear  little 
shoes,  except  you  have  these  pinchers  to  go 
with  them." 

' '  And  that  great  heap  of  books  in  your 
arms  ?" 

"Those?  They  are  the  latest,  most  ex- 
citing, and  the  weakest,  most  silly  novels. 
But  I  hand  them  out,  and  shake  my  head 
with  a  smile,  and  crowds  read  them." 

"Well,  madam,  I'm  very  inquisitive,  I 
know ;  but  I  do  want  to  know  what  you  have 
in  that  bag  thrown  over  your  shoulder  ?" 

"  A  great  variety  of  valuables ;  such  things 
as  'late  suppers,'  in  great  demand,  and  which 
send  people  to  the  grave  early,  and  thus  make 
room  for  more.  Then  there  are  'late  hours,' 
and  '  late  rising,'  and  all  manner  of  hair-dress- 
ing and  expensive  dressing,  things  that  ladies 
must  have,  even  if  their  husbands  fail.  Here 
are  diamond  pins  and  rings,  just  the  thing  to 
stir  up  envy  and  create  extravagance.  Here 
are  gold  watches,  cigars,  meerschaum  pipes, 
gold-headed  canes,  eye-glasses,  and  all  man- 


A  QUEER  OLD  LADY.  195 

ner  of  things  to  suit  all  nianncr  of  people. 
And  I  laugh  and  coax,  and  frown  and  com- 
mand, till  I  get  them  to  wear  and  use  them, 
and  do  just  what  I  please.  Now  I  have  stopped 
lo  talk  with  j^ou  a  few  moments  ;  do  n't  you 
see  what  a  crowd  have  gathered  round  me? 
low  necks,  thin  shoes,  muslin  dresses,  tight 
boots ;  some  on  crutches,  some  coughing,  some 
breathing  short,  all  crowding  to  get  near  me; 
and  when  I  move,  you  will  see  how  they  all 
run,  and  rush,  and  crowd  after  me.  Oh,  sir, 
I  am  the  great  power  of  the  world.  1  rule 
kings  and  queens,  beggars  and  philosophers. 
Don't  you  see?"' 

"Truly,  madam,  truly.  And  now  may  I 
ask  your  name  ?" 

"Name!  Fashion,  sir!  my  name  is  Mrs. 
Prevailing  Fashion.  I  thought  everybody 
knew  me." 


196  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 


XXVI. 

;^NONYMOUS    LETTERS. 

Gentle  reader,  did  you  ever  see  a  white- 
faced  hornet?  Did  you  ever  have  one,  great, 
bold,  and  with  a  loud,  trumpet  note,  dash  at 
your  face  and  strike  you  with  his  peculiar 
weapon?  How  you  are  shocked,  stunned,  and 
almost  knocked  down  by  the  blow.  How  you 
wish  every  hornet  in  the  world  was  extermin- 
ated! And  yet  one  can't  but  have  a  kind  of 
respect  for  the  fellow's  boldness,  a,nd  the  fear- 
lessness with  which  he  strikes  his  open,  deci- 
ded blow. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  the  sting  of  the 
honey-bee  is,  on  the  whole,  the  most  trying. 
You  are  conscious  of  being  her  friend  and 
even  admire  her ;  that  you  would  be  glad  to 
do  her  good,  defend  her  hive  from  the  moth 
miller,  shelter  her  from  the  storms  of  winter, 
and  make  war  with  the  bee-eater  on  her  ac- 
count. You  know  too  that  the  very  venom 
and  poison  of  the  sting  is  made  out  of  the 


ANONYMOUS  LETTERS.  197 

very  honey  of  the  flowers.  With  what  chemi- 
cal power  she  can  make  so  sweet  a  substance 
into  one  so  fearful  is  a  mystery  to  you.  The 
fact  is  all  that  you  know.  You  can  forgive 
the  savage  Arab  hornet  much  easier  than  the 
bee.  The  one  is  a  wild  marauder ;  the  other 
is  a  cherished  favorite  of  civilization. 

Gentle  reader,  did  you  ever  receive  an 
anonymous  letter?  I  don't  mean  one  of  those 
flower}',  painted,  embossed  or  garnished  val- 
entines that  look  so  magnificent  to  boys  and 
girls  under  twelve ;  but  one  of  those  secret, 
stinging,  almost  satanic  epistles,  which  come 
to  you  in  disguised  writing,  and  which,  like 
the  poison  of  the  bee  made  out  of  honey,  are 
made  up  of  perverted  goodness,  and  have  just 
enough  of  truth  in  them  to  make  them  terri- 
ble? If  you  never  did,  you  don't  know  every 
thing ! 

They  are  always  from  professed  friends ; 
but  you  have  common  sense  enough  to  know 
that  no  real  friend  would  ever  approach  you 
in  that  way;  that  none  but  a  bitter  enemy 
would  thus  play  the  hypocrite  ;  that  none  but 
a  coward  would  thus  stab  in  the  dark;  and 


198  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

none  but  a  sneaking  spirit  would  descend  to 
such  means  to  attain  his  end.  Ministers  ol 
the  gospel  probably  have  more  of  these  an- 
noyances than  all  other  men  put  together.  I 
have  known,  and  do  now  know,  of  some  of  the 
very  best  of  these  servants  of  Christ  who  have 
been  grieved,  wounded,  and  tormented  by  these 
invisible  weapons.  I  have  known  men  dis- 
missed, driven  away  from  their  fields  of  labor 
by  them.  And  if  Mr.  A.  or  Mr,  B.,  who  has 
been  in  the  habit  of  writing  such  letters  to  his 
minister,  should  perchance  see  this,  I  wish  just 
to  say  to  him,  "  Sir,  to  a  frank,  honest,  manly 
character  this  conduct  is  the  most  contempti- 
ble of  all  the  mean  things  that  you  ever  did." 
My  pen  gives  out  in  trying  to  express  the 
contempt  I  feel  for  such  a  man.  Such  letters 
are  a  libel  on  manhood,  a  perversion  of  gifts, 
and  I  have  no  doubt,  are  an  abhorrence  to 
the  Lord.  If  you  don't  like  your  minister's 
preaching,  if  his  talents  are  too  small  to  meet 
yours,  if  his  taste  does  not  coincide  with  yours, 
why  not  go  and  tell  himso,  or,  at  all  event," 
act  openhanded?  No  man  ever  wrote  an 
anonymous  letter  unless  because  he  wanted 


ANONYMOUS  LETTEES.  199 

to  work  ill  the  dark,  and  do  that  under  its 
covering  that  he  would  be  ashamed  to  do 
openly.  An  ingenuous,  kind,  or  true  man, 
will  never  write  such  a  letter.  Why  leave 
out  the  name?  Why  try  to  disguise  the  hand, 
except  because  you  arc  not  willing  to  own 
your  own  offspring? 

A  few  words  to  those  who  have  the  honor 
to  receive  such  letters.  Of  one  thing  you  may 
be  sure,  and  that  is,  that  the  man  who  writes 
an  anonymous  letter  to  you  is  afraid  of  you. 
In  his  estimation,  at  least,  you  are  a  power, 
and  one  that  he  dreads.  He  wants  to  remove 
a  fear.  Yery  likely  he  over-estimates  your 
power,  but  at  any  rate  he  confesses  his  fear. 
No  man  loads  and  shoots  at  a  floating  log,  as 
it  lies  in  stagnant  water.  In  the  next  place 
do  n't  let  the  writer  know  that  you  ever  re- 
ceived or  felt  the  blow.  In  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  jou.  will  know  from  whom  the  letter  came, 
as  truly  as  if  it  had  been  signed  by  his  real 
name.  Keep  cool,  and  keep  silent.  Terribly 
you  will  feel  the  sting  ;  but  do  n't  wince. 
Don't  show  it,  speak  of  it,  or  let  it  be  known. 
You  can't  pull  out  the  sting,  nor  prevent  the 


200  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

smart,  but  you  can  bear  it  in  silence.  You 
will  very  likely  ask,  "Why,  sir,  am  I  mista- 
ken in  supposing  that  you  have  received  such 
letters,  and  are  speaking  from  experience  ?" 
Truly,  kind  reader,  I  have  received  many  such 
in  my  day,  but  not  of  late  years.  The  skin  of 
some  animals  becomes  so  tough  by  time  that 
common  leaden  balls  will  not  pierce  it,  and 
thereVs  no  use  in  firing.  Yes,  I  have  received 
many  such  letters ;  but  so  perverse  was  I  that 
I  can't  recall  one  that  I  think  did  me  any 
good,  or  that  threw  one  ray  of  light  on  the 
path  of  duty,  or  was  otherwise  than  an  evil. 
I  never  showed  one  or  told  of  one,  even  to 
the  wife  of  my  bosom.  I  turned  them  into 
ashes  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  locked  up 
the  secret  in  my  own  bosom.  It  was  one  of 
the  very  few  secrets  that  a  man  should  not  tell 
even  to  his  sympathizing  wife.  They  will  do 
no  hurt,  and  leave  the  writer  more  powerless, 
if  you  have  enough  of  the  grace  of  Grod  and  of 
a  sterling  will  to  keep  silent.  It  is  now  many 
years  since  I  have  been  honored  with  an  anon- 
ymous letter,  and  most  likely  I  shall  never 
receive  another.     But  I  have  younger  breth- 


ANONYMOUS  LETTERS.  201 

ren  in  the  ministry  who  may  be  thus  tor- 
mented. Let  me  say  to  such,  that  if  they 
reveal  the  fact  of  having  been  thus  stabbed  it 
will  hurt  them.  You  may  feel  and  carry  your 
troubles  to  your  Master,  but  keep  silent. 

I  think  that  the  ministry  is  the  only  pro- 
fession that  is  often  tormented  in  this  way, 
and  I  have  been  trying  to  divine  the  reason. 
It  is  plain  that  the  business  and  duties  of  a 
minister  are  such  that  all  feel  that  they  under- 
stand and  are  competent  to  direct  about  it. 
They  do  n't  pretend  that  they  could  advise  a 
lawyer,  or  understand  his  business  so  as  to 
guide  him.  So  of  the  physician.  They  do  n't 
know  the  beat  of  the  pulse,  or  the  hieroglyph- 
ics on  the  medicine  recipe.  But  religion  is 
something  that  all  think  they  understand,  about 
which  they  are  abundantly  competent  to  give 
advice,  and  over  which  assume  control.  Hence 
there  are  hundreds  and  even  thousands,  prob- 
ably, who  can  assume  to  guide  a  minister,  who 
w^ould  feel  incompetent  to  manage  a  lawyer  or 
a  doctor.  The  Lord's  people  are  all  prophets 
in  this  respect.  It  is  a  pity  that  we  need  and 
must  have  so  many  conservators ;  but  how 


202  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS.  ' 

thankful  we  ought  to  be  that  we  have  so  many 
able  and  willing  to  relieve  Moses  and  Aaron 
of  the  burdens  of  the  priesthood!  It  is  a  pity, 
loo,  that  ministers  are  so  sensitive,  and  that 

"A  kick  that  scarce  would  move  a  horse, 
May  kill  a  sound  divine. " 

I  have  known  a  minister  almost  thrown  into 
convulsions  in  public  by  one  of  these  missiles. 

I  beg  m}^  brethren  to  cultivate  a  simple, 
open,  frank,  and  childlike  spirit — confident 
that  He  who  hath  called  them  into  his  service 
will  protect  them  from  the  pestilence  that  walk- 
eth  in  darkness.  Let  them  stand  firm  in  the 
faith  of  the  Lord,  and  the  movements  of  the 
birds  of  the  night  will  no  more  injure  them 
than  the  flapping  of  the  bat's  wing  against 
Gibraltar  will  hurt  the  rock. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  say  and  allow  that  all 
anonymous  letters  do  not  come  from  the  strong. 
Sometimes  very  weak  bows  shoot  such  arrows, 
but  such  seldom  reach  the  mark.  There  are 
many  really  good  but  weak  trees  on  the  hill 
of  Zion ;  and  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord  there 
is  not  only  spikenard,  calamus,  cassia,  and  the 
like,  but  also  "a/'oes;"  and  if  the  latter  gives 


ANONYMOUS  LETTEKS.  203 

forth  its  own  fragrance  now  and  then,  it  only 
acts  naturally.  These  feeble  disciples,  some- 
times disappointed,  sometimes  really  wishing 
for  power  to  do  good,  can  think  of  no  way  so 
sure  as  to  stir  up  the  minister  now  and  then 
with  an  anonymous  letter.  We  must  bear 
with  such,  and  be  thankful  for  their  very 
weakness.  But  let  me  entreat  all  such  to 
take  some  other  way  of  doing  good,  and  not 
torment  their  minister  by  thrusting  needles 
into  his  back,  even  if  they  are  not  darning- 
needles.  I  should  be  afraid  to  say  how  many 
ministers  have  thus  been  worried  till  they 
asked  a  dismission  and  left  their  fields  of  use- 
fulness, were  it  not  that  I  hope  what  I  have 
said  will  do  something  towards  counteracting 
the  evil.  The  ministers  w^ill  not  tell  their  best 
friends  of  these  troubles  ;  they  may  not.  For 
them,  "flereetrneminissereUcfuinestJ^  Silence, 
silence,  dear  brethren ;  there  is  great  power 
in  silence.  If  you  weep,  wash  your  eyes  in  j 
cold  water,  and  don't  let  others  see  your 
tears. 


204  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 


XXVII. 

Christians  Travelling. 

This  year,  and  indeed  every  year,  and 
more  and  more.  Christians  and  Christian  fami- 
lies will  leave  their  homes  for  a  summer  tour 
or  a  residence  of  a  few  months.  The  number 
of  such  is  so  great,  and  the  places  to  which 
they  resort  are  so  numerous,  and  their  influ- 
ence for  good  or  for  evil  is  so  decided,  that  I 
have  a  strong  desire  to  address  a  few  words 
of  kindness  to  such.  Not  unfrequently  a  sin- 
gle hint  may  influence  our  actions  for  a  long- 
time. 

The  reasons  why  good  people,  men  and 
women,  go  away  from  home  during  the  sum- 
mer, are  such  as  these : 

A  desire  for  change.  Every  one  knows 
that  he  cannot  long  meet  the  ever-returning 
duties  of  life  without  somewhat  of  a  tread-mill 
feeling.  You  long  to  break  the  monotony. 
You  are  willing  to  leave  your  comfortable 


CHRISTIANS  TRAVELLING.  205 

home  and  encounter  dust,  and  heat,  and  small 
rooms,  and  crowded  places,  and  poor  accom- 
modations, for  the  sake  of  a  change.  You 
hope  to  see  new  scenes,  become  acquainted 
with  new  faces,  meet  old  friends,  sec  the 
changes  going  on  in  the  world,  have  some- 
thing to  make  you  forget  the  wearing  labors 
of  life,  and  have  something  to  think  of  and 
talk  about  after  you  return  to  your  home. 
This  change  refreshes  the  spirits,  restores  the 
energies,  and  creates  courage  to  go  back  and 
take  up  the  burdens  of  life.     Or, 

Rest  from  toil.  We  are  not  only  a  work- 
ing people,  but  we  -crowd  and  overtask  our 
l^owers  of  body  and  of  mind.  We  undertake 
a  little  more  than  we  can  do,  lift  burdens  a 
little  heavier  than  we  can  carry.  The  man  of 
business  under  the  pressure  and  stimulus  of 
his  concerns,  the  mother  under  the  anxieties 
and  toils  of  her  large  family,  the  student  and 
the  man  making  drafts  upon  the  brain  all  the 
time,  feel  that  they  need  rest.  They  can  have, 
it  only  by  dropping  every  thing  and  going 
away.  They  feel  that  if  they  could  only  flee 
to  yonder  mountain  they  would  be  at  rest. 


206  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

They  judge  riglitly,  and  they  ought  to  go  and 
rest.     Or, 

To  recover  health.  As  soon  as  we  can  get 
our  sick  friend  off  the  bed,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  before,  we  urge  him  to  go  away  from 
home — for  a  change  of  air  for  the  lungs,  scenery 
for  the  eye,  food  for  the  stomach,  and  out-of- 
door  exercise.  Nature  provides  her  medicines 
in  this  way.  In  what  the  renewing  power  of 
a  journey  consists,  it  would  be  difficult  to  tell. 
But  the  fact  is  certain  that  many  a  sick  man, 
and  many  a  feeble  woman,  and  many  a  puny 
child,  is  restored  and  recovered  by  absence 
from  home,  especially  if  that  home  be  in  the 
city. 

Now  all  these  are  legitimate  and  good 
reasons  why  the  Christian  should  at  times 
leave  home  and  travel,  or  change  scenery 
during  the  summer  heat.  And  a  great  multi- 
tude will  do  so.  And  I  am  wishing  to  give 
them  a  few  kind  hints  how  and  what  to  do  in 
these  circumstances. 

1.  Don't  leave  your  Christian  character 
at  home.  I  am  afraid  that  many,  perhaps 
thoughtlessly,  so  sink  their  Christian  charac- 


CHRISTIANS  TRAVELLING.  207 

ter  out  of  sight  when  abroad,  that  they  are 
not  recognized  as  Christians.  In  several  cases 
which  I  distinctly  recall,  I  have  spoken  to 
gentlemen,  whom  I  met  at  large  hotels,  on  the 
greatest  of  all  interests,  and  have  been  sur- 
prised to  have  them  tell  me  they  were  Chris- 
tians. From  my  intercourse  with  them  I  ought 
to  have  suspected  it  before.  Some  will  go  to 
places  of  amusement,  to  the  ball-room  and  the 
like,  when  away  from  home,  when  they  never 
w^ould  have  done  it  where  well  known.  Some 
sink  Christ  out  of  sight,  and  feel  that  for  the 
time  being,  certainly,  they  may  conform  to  the 
world.  Now  the  safest  and  the  wisest  and  the 
easiest  way  is,  to  be  an  open,  known  Chris- 
tian everywhere.  Let  the  flag  of  the  sacred 
army  be  seen.  Don't  let  people  have  to  guess 
whether  you  are  a  Christian  or  not.  You  will 
need  to  be  very  careful  about  secret  devo- 
tion when  away.  You  can't  carry  your  closet 
and  your  habits  with  you.  Conveniences  will 
be  wanting.  But  let  the  temptations  be  what 
they  may,  don't  forego  secret  prayer.  The 
life-blood  of  the  soul  will  dry  up  if  you  do.  It 
is  the  time  and  the  place,  above  all  others,  to 


208  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

carry  and  show  tlie  image  of  Christ.  Don't, 
then,  do  or  omit  to  do  otherwise  than  what 
you  would  at  home. 

2.  Be  careful  about  violating  the  Sabbath. 
At  home  you  have  to  show  your  example  in 
your  family,  in  the  church,  and  perhaps  in 
the  Sabbath-school.  You  are  now  loose 'from 
these.  You  will  be  tempted,  when  abroad,  to 
break  the  Sabbath  hj  travelling,  by  riding,  by 
walking,  by  visiting,  and  by  worldly  conver- 
sation, and  the  temptations  will  surely  return 
in  one  of  these  forms  every  returning  Sab- 
bath. I  must  be  allowed  to  say  that  Chris- 
tians in  the  country  are  often  surprised  at 
what  they  see  visitors.  Christians  too,  do  on 
the  Lord's  day.  They  are  watched  just  as 
they  would  be,  and  no  otherwise,  were  thc}^ 
at  home.  And  if  any  professing  Christian 
thinks  he  can  violate  the  Sabbath  and  not  be 
marked,  he  is  greatly  mistaken. 

3.  Don't  neglect  public  worship  when  from 
home.  On  this  point  there  is  an  unaccounta- 
ble degree  of  irresponsibility.  You  are  not 
with  your  church  and  people,  and  feel  that 
you  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  other.     But 


CHRISTIANS  TEAVELLING,  209 

you  should  know  that  you  arc  often  thrown 
near  a  small,  feeble  church.  The  tide  of  the 
world  almost  sweeps  the  little  band  away. 
They  need  all  the  encouragement  and  counte- 
nance and  prayer  they  can  have.  If  you  stay 
away,  or  go  but  a  part  of  the  day,  and  take 
no  interest  in  them,  are  you  doing  as  Christ 
would  do?  They  love  to  see  the  stranger 
within  their  gates.  They  love  to  feel  that  the 
stranger's  heart  beats  with  love  to  the  same 
Redeemer,  and  that  you  feel  the  same  wants, 
and  go  to  the  same  source  for  the  supply.  Let 
there  be  no  opportunity  w^hen  health  will  pos- 
sibly allow  it,  which  jon  do  not  improve  to 
attend  public  worship  when  away  from  home. 
Leave  your  blessing  and  jour  prayers  in 
every  church  and  with  every  people  where 
you  go.  If  you  can  visit  the  Sabbath-school, 
smile  upon  the  children,  greet  the  teachers, 
and  perhaps  say  a  word  of  encouragement, 
don't  fail  to  do  it.  Let  your  light  shine  in 
every  synagogue  wherever  you  go. 

4.  The  prayer-meeting.  You  will  find 
wherever  you  go,  almost  without  exception, 
a  weekly  prayer-meeting.     There  will  proba- 


210  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

bly  be  but  few  who  sustain  it.  They  are  the 
life  of  the  church.  And  it  is  a  grievous  fact 
men  and  women  who  feel  bound  to  attend  and 
sustain  a  praj^er-meeting  in  their  own  church 
at  home,  feel  no  responsibility  when  abroad. 
I  have  been  at  places  where  were  hundreds, 
literally,  of  Christian  professors,  and  yet  Jot 
a  dozen  would  be  found  at  the  humble  prayer- 
meeting.  I  know  of  no  way  in  which  you  can 
spend  a  single  hour  more  profitably  to  your- 
self, or  more  to  the  comfort  and  strengthening 
of  the  few  faithful  ones,  than  to  go  into  their 
meeting  for  prayer.  It  may  not  be  your  par- 
ticular denomination.  Don't  care  for  that. 
All  the  better,  for  it  gives  you  the  opportu- 
nity of  seeing  that  you  are  free  in  the  Lord, 
and  are  bound  by  no  cords  of  bigotry.  Go  to 
their  little  meetings.  Sing  with  them;  pray 
with  them ;  and  if  you  say  a  word  let  it  be  a 
word  of  cheer  and  encouragement.  Let  it  be 
to  strengthen  their  faith.  But  don't  go  back 
to  your  home  feeling  conscious  that  you  have 
not  attended  a  single  prayer-meeting  since 
you  left!  It  would  be  a  fearful  mark  against 
you.     It  would,  I  feel  sure,  grieve  the  divine 


CnmSTIANS  TRAVELLING.  211 

Redeemer.  And  3'et,  how  many  do  it!  I 
could  tell  some  painful  facts  on  this  subject. 

5.  Finally,  don't  return  home  feeling  that 
you  have  done  no  good.  You  are  out  on  a 
mission.  To  be  sure,  your  own  immediate 
health  is  the  great  object,  perhaps  ;  but  you  go 
as  a  living  epistle  of  Christ,  known  and  read 
as  such.  And  if  you  go  and  return  without 
doing  good,  it  will  not  be  because  you  have 
not  had  the  opportunity.  You  can  do  good, 
and  you  ought.  And  if  you  return  home  feel- 
ing that  you  have  thrown  off  responsibility, 
and  forgotten  your  high  calling,  and  neglected 
to  do  for  Christ,  as  you  might  have  done,  you 
will,  if  really  a  Christian,  have  a  terrible  reck- 
oning with  conscience. 

Good  by,  Christian  traveller!  A  pleasant 
journey  to  you  and  a  safe  return  ;  but  Oh, 
just  say  before  you  start,  that  j^ou  will  be  the 
better  for  my  simple  admonH.ions ! 


212  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 


XXVIII. 


AMP. 


They  took  great  pains,  in  building  the  good 
sliip  Samson,  that  every  timber  and  plank 
and  bolt  should  be  the  best  possible.  They 
gave  the  ship  a  strong  man's  name,  and  yet 
talked  about  her  and  she.  Just  before  she 
was  completed,  there  was  a  great  consultation 
as  to  what  kind  of  head  should  be  carved  and 
placed  under  her  bowsprit  for  the  "figure- 
head." At  last  it  came  to  them  that,  as  she 
was  named  "Samson,"  nothing  but  the  head 
of  a  Jew,  old,  marked,  decided,  and  fierce, 
with  shaggy  brows,  sunken  eyes,  and  long 
hair,  would  meet  the  case.  Accordingly,  a 
Samson's  head,  so  far  as  the  carver  could 
conceive,  was  duly  made  and  placed  on  the 
bow  of  the  ship,  as  if  to  see  where  she  was 
going,  and  give  warning  when  he  saw  any 
danger.  So  she  was  launched,  rigged,  loaded, 
and  made  ready  for  sea.     When  launched,  a 


OLD  SAMP.  213 

multitude  yeut  up  a  loud  shout  as  she  grace- 
fully slid  into  the  water,  and  sat  like  a  duck. 
"When  rigged  and  ready  for  sailing,  her  beau- 
tiful form  was  the  admiration  of  everybody. 
At  last  the  captain  and  the  crew  came  on 
board ;  and  then  the  pilot  came,  and  quietly 
gave  his  orders.  The  sails  swelled  out,  the 
yard-arms  were  turned,  and  the  glorious 
ship  moved  oflf,  obeying  every  hint  of  her 
helm,  and  was  soon  walking  over  the  great 
waves  of  the  ocean,  her  head  directed 
straight  to  the  distant  port  to  which  she 
was  bound. 

The  "figure-head"  at  her  bow  seemed  to 
enjoy  his  position.  When  the  winds  blew  and 
the  seas  dashed  over  him,  he  never  winked 
or  took  pains  to  spit  out  the  salt  water.  There 
he  remained  through  many  a  storm  and  many 
a  iblow,  unmoved  and  undismayed.  By  day 
or  by  night,  he  seemed  ever  to  have  his  eyes 
open.  The  sailors  called  him  "  Old  Samp." 
After  making  many  voyages  to  different  and 
distant  parts  of  the  world,  all  at  once  it  seemed 
as  if  "  Old  Samp"  had  become  alive,  and  was 
heard  to  talk  to  himself  every  night,  after  all 


214  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

the  crew  had  turned  iii  except  the  night- 
watch.  He  began  in  a  kind  of  whisper,  which 
grew  louder  and  louder,  till  the  sailors  de- 
clared they  understood  every  word  that  he 
said.  "Come  on,  old  ship,"  he  would  fre- 
quently say,  talking  of  course  to  himself,  "I 
have  guided  you  so  far  and  so  long,  and  never 
made  a  mistake.  Hast  thou  not  been  twice 
round  the  world,  and  had  nothing  to  do  but  to 
follow  me  ?  Have  I  not  always  been  at  my 
post,  and  in  the  darkness  of  night,  and  among 
rocks  and  breakers,  safely  led  thee  on,  so  that 
thou  hadst  only  to  follow  me  ?  To  be  sure,  I 
have  heard  the  captain  shout,  and  the  men 
run,  and  haul,  and  pull,  and  seen  the  old 
ship  reel  and  stagger;  but  after  all,  they 
had  only  to  let  the  ship  follow  me,  and  all 
was  safe." 

"Halloo,  Old  Samp,"  cried  the  sailors, 
"  what 's  all  this  muss  ?" 

"  I  'm  only  talking  to  myself." 

"Yes,  but  you  are  talking  like  a  fool; 
just  as  if  you  guided  and  managed  the 
ship." 

"Well,  don't  she  follow  just  where  and 


OLD  SAMr.  215 

\Ylieii    I    lead    her?     Answer    inc    that,    will 
you?" 

"To  be  sure.  But  what  do  you  suppose 
the  ship  has  a  helm,  a  captain,  and  a  crew 
for  ?" 

"Why,  to  follow  me.  They  do  no  good, 
/guide  the  ship." 

"You  old  heathen  ;  if  we  don't  strike  the 
broad-axe  into  you,  and  split  your  head  open. 
What  a  vain  fool  to  think  that  you,  who  can't 
shut  an  eye  or  lift  a  finger,  are  the  guide  of 
this  ship." 

Old  Samp  made  no  reply,  but  kept  mut- 
tering to  himself,  "  After  all,  it 's  I  that  do  it. 
It 's  I  that  do  it." 

A  few  nights  after  this  conversation,  as 
the  ship  was  ploughing  her  way  through  the 
fogs  that  gather  around  and  over  the  banks 
of  St.  George,  with  a  light  at  her  mast-head 
and  another  at  her  stern,  with  three  men  on 
the  look-out  lest  she  should  run  into  some 
vessel  or  against  some  iceberg,  the  fog-bells 
tolling  loudly,  "Old  Samp"  seemed  to  be 
wide  awake.  "Aha!  how  timid  they  are 
Just   as    if  I   could  n't   see    every   danger, 


216  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

and  guide  the  ship  just  as  I  always  have 
done." 

"Sail  ahead!"  sung  out  the  watch  on  deck 
at  that  instant. 

"Port  helm!"  cried  the  captain  in  the  next 
breath. 

Quickly  the  noble  ship  obeyed  her  helm, 
and  swung  off  and  away  from  the  vessel,  just 
escaping  a  horrible  collision,  and  yet  giving  a 
slight  knock  against  the  end  of  the  stranger's 
bowsprit.  It  was  hardly  felt;  and  yet  that 
little  jar  was  enough  to  knock  poor  Old  Samp's 
head  off  his  shoulders,  and  leave  it  rolling  and 
tossing  on  the  waves.  The  ship  moved  on 
her  way,  and  no  one  for  some  weeks  knew 
that  Old  Samp  was  gone. 

Poor  Old  Samp !  how  much  he  felt  and 
talked  as  men  do  every  day,  when  they  think 
that  they  guide  themselves  and  their  affairs ; 
and  that  they  need  and  have  no  Providence 
behind  them,  whose  hand  is  on  the  helm,  and 
who  uses  other  men  to  guide  those  who  think 
they  guide  themselves.  Never  forget  that  our 
wisdom  and  our  reason  are  about  as  able  to 
guide  us  as   Old  Samp  was  the  ship.     The 


OLD  SAMP.  217 

mind  and  the  skill  apc  fiir  behind,  out  of 
sight ;  but  without  them  we  are  wrecked. 
When  men  who  deny  God,  and  think  they 
are  so  wise,  come  to  die,  the  world  moves  on 
just  as  it  did  before,  and  just  as  the  ship  did 
after  poor  Old  Samp  was  no  more.  *'  Figure- 
heads" don't  guide  the  ship,  but  the  mind  at 
the  helm. 


10 


218  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

XXIX. 

Breaking  The  Left    /lrm. 

If  m}^  courteous  reader  never,  in  the  full 
tide  of  labors  and  responsibilit}^,  elianced  to 
break  his  left  arm,  I  feel  sure  he  has  some 
things  to  learn.  I  do  n't  refer  to  the  sudden, 
stunning  fall  on  the  ice,  when  your  first  con- 
sciousness is  that  you  need  help,  and  are  faint, 
and  have  one  limb  shattered  and  helpless  ; 
nor  to  the  swellings,  and  splints,  and  band- 
ages, and  pains,  and  arnica,  compresses,  and 
long  weary  nights,  and  the  useless  thing  hung 
in  a  sling,  to  be  carefully  carried  about;  nor 
do  I  refer  to  the  many  condolences  and  con- 
gratulations you  have  ' '  that  it  was  not  your 
right  arm,"  and  "how  thankful  you  ought  to 
be  that  you  escaped  with  the  right  arm  unin- 
jured," etc.  You  are  truly  tempted  to  say, 
"My  good  friend,  how  much  more  thankful 
ought  you  to  be,  that  neither  of  your  arms  has 
been  broken."     How  many  daily  forget  this 


BREAKING  THE  LEFT  AKM.  219 

great  mercy.     But  I  took  up  my  pen  to  speak 
of  the  broken  left  arm. 

One  night,  between  sleeping  and  waking, 
between  opium  and  pain,  I  overheard  a  dia- 
logue between  the  right  and  the  left  hand,  by 
which  I  was  not  a  little  amused,  but  still  more 
instructed. 

"Now,  my  good  fellow,"  said  Right  Hand 
to'Left,  "you  see  just  how  it  is.  You  may 
as  well  be  quiet,  and  get  well.  You  are  not 
much  missed,  as  you  hear  everybody  rejoicing 
and  congratulating  the  owner  that  it  was  you 
rather  than  me  who  is  laid  aside.  We  shall 
get  along  admirably  without  you ;  and  indeed, 
you  are  not  of  much  consequence."  . 

"It  may  seem  so,"  meekly  replied  Left 
Hand,"  but  I  am  hardly  satisfied  with  the 
place  you  give  me.  Will  you  please  tell 
me  wherein  your  great  superiority  con- 
sists ?" 

Up  started  Right  Hand,  as  fierce  as  a 
challenging  bully — I  wonder  how  the  j^salm- 
ist  ever  came  to  call  the  right  hand  feminine, 
and  talk  about  ''her  cunning,"  when  every 
attribute  is  masculine,  bold,  grasping,  pugna- 


220  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

cious,  and  nnlacl^dike,  as  possible — and  an- 
swered thus : 

"My  superiority!  why,  in  every  thing. 
My  owner  can't  hold  his  quill  and  write  a 
most  wonderful  piece  unless  I  hold  that  pen." 
"True,  but  who  holds  the  paper  on  which  he 
writes  ?" 

"Who  holds  the  hammer,  while  the  black- 
smith forges  and  shapes  his  iron?"  "And 
Avho  holds  the  tongs  that  grasp  that  iron  and 
tiirn  it  over  on  the  anvil  ?" 

"Who  holds  the  plane,  while  the  carpen- 
ter smooths  the  board?"  "And  who  stead- 
ies the  board,  while  he  joints  and  smooths  it?" 

"  When  my  owner  walks  the  streets,  who 
has  the  honor  to  salute,  lift  the  hat,  and  shake 
the  hand?"  "And  who  holds  the  travelling- 
coat  and  carpet-bag  while  he  does  it  ?" 

"  In  war,  who  wields  the  sword  and  draws 
the  trigger  at  the  right  momeftt?"  "And 
who  holds  the  scabbard  while  the  sword  is 
drawn ;  and  who  holds  up  the  gun  while  it  is 
fired  ?" 

"Who  gallantly  helps  the  lady  into 
the  carriage?"      "And  who  holds  the  car- 


BrvEAKING  THE  LEFT  ARM.  221 

riagc   door   open  while  slie   enters  the  car- 
riage ?" 

"You  interrupt  me  and  trouble  me,  and  I 
wont  talk  if  you  do  so."  "I  don't  want  to 
do  that,"  said  Left  Hand  ;  "  but  suppose  I  ask 
you  a  few  questions  now  ?  you  certainly  are 
very  skilful  in  this  matter. 

"Who  shaved  our  owner  yesterday?" 
"Why,  I  did,  and  wanted  j^ou  to  hold  his 
face ;  and  because  j'ou  was  gone,  I  cut  him 
eight  times  badly." 

"Couldn't  3'ou  help  it?"  "No,  indeed; 
the  best  barber  in  town  can't  shave  a  man 
unless  the  left  hand  holds  the  nose  and  other 
parts  of  the  face." 

"Will  you  please,  Mr.  Right  Hand,  but- 
ton that  wristband  of  yours,  which  is  open  ?" 
"Why,  you  know  I  can't  do  that.  I  never 
did  that  in  my  life.  You  have  alwaj^s  done 
that." 

"Won't  you  please  wind  up  master's 
watch?  we  shall  want  to  know  when  to  ex- 
pect morning."  "Pshaw!  you  know  I  can't 
wind  up  the  watch  unless  you  are  there  to 
hold  it." 


222  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

' '  You  surely  can  wash  a  tumbler  ?"  "  Not 
unless  you  hold  it  for  me." 

"  You  can  take  the  money  out  of  the  purse, 
and  pay  for  what  our  master  wants."  "Not 
unless  you  hold  the  purse.  But  I  can  hold 
the  whip,  and  make  old  Dobbin  go  fast." 

"Yes,  if  I  hold  the  reins,  and  guide  him 
while  he  goes.  The  real  fact  is,  that  with 
your  help  alone  the  master  can't  cut  the 
leaves  of  his  new  book,  or  read  it  when  cut. 
The  mistress  can't  darn  a  stocking  or  make  a 
pudding." 

"Well,  well,  Mr.  Left  Hand,  you  make 
out  that  you  are  of  great  consequence  ;  and  I 
do  n't  deny  it.  I  appreciate  you ;  and  have  I 
not  held  you  carefully  every  night  since  you 
have  been  sick  during  sleep  ?" 

"  Yes,  and  I  have  been  grateful  for  it.  It 
was  just  as  I  should  have  done  for  you." 

"It  is  possible,  dear  old  helper,  I  have 
not  realized  how  much  real  service  you  per- 
form. Just  tell  me  how  you  estimate  your- 
self." 

"  Why,  sir,  I  am  to  you  what  a  good  wife 
is  to  her  husband.     You  have  the  honorable 


BREAKING  THE  LEFT  ARM.  223 

things  to  do,  and  the  honorable  orders  of  Mrs. 
Brain  to  execute  ;  but  I  am  always  at  hand  to 
help.  When  our  owner  fell,  I  leaped  out  to 
break  the  fall,  and  broke  my  own  wrist,  while 
3'ou  flew  up  into  the  air  and  cried,  "  What  an 
escape  I  have  had!"  I  am  to  the  body  what 
the  wheel-horses  are  to  the  stage,  taking  every 
twitch  and  lurch  of  the  carriage.  The  wife  is 
to  her  husband  what  the  mate  is  to  the  com- 
mander of  the  ship,  ever  on  the  watch,  man- 
aging the  crew,  while  the  captain  has  all  the 
honor  of  the  successful  voyage.  The  w^ife  is 
the  untiring  friend  of  her  husband,  more  jeal- 
ous of  his  good  name  than  of  her  own,  never 
wearied  in  promoting  his  interests,  never  ask- 
ing for  the  praise  or  the  honors  that  fall  on 
him ;  continually  doing  small  but  necessary 
things ;  meeting  the  trials  of  life,  the  greater 
part  of  which  fall  most  heavily  on  her,  with- 
out complaining  or  mourning  that  her  lot  is  not 
better.  The  husband  is  the  Eight  Hand,  and 
the  wife  is  the  Left.  The  one  can  do  little 
without  the  other.  You  know  that,  since  I 
have  been  laid  aside,  j'ou  can't  button  a  col- 
lar or  tie  a  cravat.     You  arc  the  man,  and  I 


224  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

am  the  woman — a  help-meet.  And  I  have 
been  thinking,  as  I  have  lain  here  throbbing 
and  aching,  that  perhaps  no  man  could  break 
his  left  arm  without  learning  to  value  his  own 
wife  the  more.  He  sees  that  even  the  Eight 
Hand  is  crippled  when  I  am  disabled.  He 
learns  that  uncomplaining,  untiring  ministry 
of  woman  so  necessary  for  the  human  family, 
so  freely  bestowed,  so  seldom  appreciated. 
Doomed  to  be  the  Left  Hand,  she  meets  every 
duty,  be  her  lot  high  or  low,  with  cheerfulness 
and  alacrity.  It  can  never  be  too  often  told 
to  her  honor  that,  when  the  Eedeemer  was  on 
earth,  though  maligned  and  slandered  and 
persecuted  b}^  man,  there  is  not  one  instance 
recorded  of  his  receiving  any  thing  but  kindness 
and  sympathy  from  woman.  Is  not  this  an 
imperishable  crown  of  honor  on  the  head  of 
woman?  And  no  thinking,  observing  man 
can  look  back  upon  the  path  of  life  which  he 
and  his  wife  have  walked  hand  in  hand,  with- 
out giving  her  the  credit  of  having  done,  un- 
tiringly, the  humble,  but  necessary  duties  of 
life,  and  helping  him  to  do  most  of  what  he 
has  accomplished,  and  making  him  what  he  is. 


BREAKING  THE  LEFT  ARM.  225 

0  woman,  Left  Hand  of  the  family,  thy  hus- 
band may  well  praise  thee,  and  value  thee 
more  and  more  as  long  as  he  lives." 

"Right,  right,  my  true  yoke-fellow;  thou 
hast  hit  it.  Henceforth  I  will  look  upon  thee 
as  my  wife ;  and  if  I  hear  people  hereafter 
offering  their  congratulations  that  it  was  not 
the  right  hand  that  was  disabled,  I  at  least 
will  feel  that  I  have  learned  a  good  lesson  by 
the  breakinjr  of  the  left  arm." 


10^ 


226  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 


XXX. 

"The    Age  of  the  Press." 

He  must  be  a  bold  man  wlio  doubts  that 
in  our  day  the  "Press"  throws  off  its  products 
quicker,  faster,  and  more  abundantly  than  ever 
before.  Everybody  reads,  and  everybody  and 
all  his  relations  write.  If  the  human  brain 
can  and  does  digest  and  assimilate  all  that 
passes  into  it,  as  the  healthy  bod}^  does  its 
food,  the  people  of  the  Lord  could  all  shortly 
be  prophets,  and  the  children  of  this  world 
would  be  wiser  than  ever  before.  I  am  not 
going  to  risk  what  little  popularity  I  may  have 
by  running  tilt  against  this  age,  or  to  doubt 
that  it  is  the  wisest,  best,  and  most  desirable 
age  that  ever  existed.  I  have  lately  bought 
some  huge  commentaries  on  the  Bible,  very 
bulky  and  very  weighty,  measured  by  the 
foot  or  the  scales  of  the  counter ;  and  I  have 
the  privilege  of  seeing  great  weekly  religious 
papers,  and  vast,  barndoor-like  daily  papers, 
and  I  am  more  and  more  surprised  at  the 


"THE  AGE  OF  THE  PKESS."  227 

amount  of  reading  one  can  procure  for  his 
money.  We  have  vohinics  in  our  daily  pa- 
pers, and  hardly  less  in  our  weeklies.  And 
what  amazing  pictorials  and  histories  and  biog- 
raphies they  bring  to  our  doors,  and  thrust 
into  our  parlors,  and  make  us  almost  turn 
tiger  to  prevent  their  being  left  there. 

Carlyle  suggests  that  it  would  be  a  great 
and  valuable  investment  to  pay  authors  for 
what  they  donH  write !  By  which  I  under- 
stand him  to  mean,  that  if  writers  would  pro- 
duce not  more  than  half  what  they  now  do,  and 
have  that  digested,  condensed,  and  wrought  out 
in  the  brain,  they  would  well  deserve  double 
what  they  now  receive.  I  often  marvel  at  the 
long  columns  and  the  number  of  them,  and  feel 
that  these  must  all  be  filled,  like  the  boa  con- 
strictor, even  though  the  editor  swallow  any 
thing  that  comes  along,  hair,  bones,  horns,  and 
all.  And  I  am  not  surprised  that  since  the 
wise,  good  public  buy  by  the  quantity,  and 
demand  a  great  amount  for  their  money,  there 
is,  and  must  be,  so  much  crude  thinking,  such 
a  spreading  out  of  thought,  so  many  pieces 
and  chapters  dashed  off,  so  many  unripe  no- 


228  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

tions  obtruded  on  the  reader,  and  sucli  flippant 
nonsense  labelled  "wisdom  by  the  package." 
If  the  editor  of  the  magazine  or  paper  pays  so 
much  for  the  bulk,  and  credits  his  correspond- 
ent by  the  page  or  column,  where  is  the  in- 
ducement for  the  writer  to  sit  down  and  think, 
and  turn  his  thoughts  over  again  and  again, 
then  to  sift  them,  and  winnow  them,  condense 
them,  and  refine  them,  till  they  show  the  value 
and  the  polish  of  pure  silver? 

But  this  is  a  small  evil  compared  with  the 
often  crude,  wild,  impracticable,  and  danger- 
ous notions  that  are  scattered  broadcast  over 
society  by  this  "age  of  the  Press."  In  almost 
every  popular  magazine,  and  in  not  a  few 
religious  papers,  you  will  meet  with  notions 
so  dressed  up,  like  French  cookery,  that  you 
hardly  see  to  what  you  are  yielding  your  mind 
and  heart.  Often  one  writer  has  to  follow  an- 
other, and  try  to  correct  the  impressions  made 
or  to  dilute  the  poison  distilled.  The  good 
editor  must  have  so  many  columns  of  original 
matter,  and  he  can't  afford  to  winnow  the  chaff 
from  the  wheat,  or  to  strain  the  water  before 
him.    He  hopes  it  won't,  on  the  whole,  do  any 


•THE  AGE  OF  THE  PRESS."  229 

hurt,  and  tluit  it 'will  awaken  some  strong  arm 
to  come  and  sweep  it  all  off.  The  garden  is 
to  look  all  the  better  for  the  weeds  that  have 
been  pulled  np. 

Now,  I  am  so  far  bewildered  in  looking  at 
this  "age  of  the  press,"  that  I  verily  believe 
that  if  our  editors  dared  and  would  have  but 
half  the  matter  they  now  have,  making  it  up 
in  large  type,  or  reducing  the  size  of  the  sheet, 
and  having  every  writer  put  his  thoughts  into 
half  the  space  he  now  occupies,  paying  him 
well  for  what  he  leaves  out,  it  would  be  far  bet- 
ter for  the  present  and  the  rising  generation. 
As  things  now  are,  who  pretends  to  read  more 
than  a  small  portion  of  what  is  printed?  And 
then  how  we  train  the  mind  to  glance  over  the 
article,  not  to  read  it,  not  to  study  it,  not  to 
be  improved  by  it,  but  to  get  a  smoky  idea  of 
what  it  contains!  It  is  like  attempting  to  burn 
crude  peat ;  you  get  a  vast  column  of  smoke,  an 
abundance  of  ashes,  but  not  much  heat  or  light. 
The  reader,  unconsciously,  has  his  mind  dilu- 
ted, and  his  memory  made  into  a  riddle-sieve, 
through  which  every  thing  passes  except  sticks 
and  coarse  materials.    This  hasty,  undigesting 


230  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

mode  of  reading  must  inevitably  make  us  su- 
perficial and  soft  in  all  our  mental  operations. 
We  cannot  sit  down  and  make  our  own  minds 
think,  if  we  train  them  to  live  upon  the  shad- 
ows of  thought.  What  I  especially  desire  is, 
that  those  who  write  for  the  public  do  not  try 
to  see  how  they  can  dash  off  a  crude  article, 
how  easily  they  can  rattle  the  box,  how  quickly 
they  can  write  what  will  give  them  five  or  ten 
dollars  the  page ;  but  how  much  good  sense, 
correct  opinion,  and  elevated  taste,  they  can 
weave  into  every  article.  Even  if  this  loose 
writing,  and  looser  thinking  in  the  reader, 
resulted  in  no  vitiation  of  the  moral  senti- 
ments, it  does,  nevertheless,  vitiate  the  taste, 
so  that  a  thing  that  is  really  a  gem  in  the 
world  of  literature  is  in  danger  of  being  over- 
looked. He  who  spends  life  amid  the  din  of 
the  factory,  the  clanking  of  looms,  and  the 
whirring  of  spindles,  is  not  so  likely  to  enjoy 
an  exquisite  piece  of  music  on  the  piano,  as  the 
man  in  circumstances  entirely  reverse.  I  do  not 
question  that  this  "age  of  the  press"  produces 
much  that  is  valuable.  The  wheat  produced 
on  the  field  is  very  large,  but  bears  a  small  pro- 


"THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRESS."  231 

portion  to  the  cliaff.  Among  all  the  shells  and 
the  debris  of  the  ocean  gathered  up  on  the 
sands  of  the  shore,  there  is  here  and  there  a 
choice  shell  or  fossil,  but  it  is  only  here  and 
there.  Broken  shells  and  imperfect  frag- 
ments compose  the  greater  part  of  ^yhat  is 
gathered  up. 

Now,  is  there  no  way  to  change  this  fash- 
ion of  the  age,  and  instead  of  telling  how  "the 
press  groans"  under  its  burdens,  cannot  we 
make  our  reading  more  select,  our  papers  of  a 
higher  order,  our  writers  take  more  pains  with 
their  productions?  We  are  often  afraid  that 
if  we  try  to  give  thought  instead  of  words,  we 
shall  become  dry,  and  the  very  light  in  which 
we  place  our  ideas  will  seem  dry — lumen  sic- 
cum;  but  there  is  no  danger,  at  this  day,  lest 
we  dive  out  of  sight,  or  weary  the  faculties  of 
our  readers  by  deep,  original  thought.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  is  great  danger  lest  the  press 
shall  demand  more  and  more  in  quantity,  till 
our  writers,  like  one  in  Horace,  boast  how. 
much  they  can  write  standing  on  one  foot. 

They  buy  and  sell  wheat  by  its  quality,  and 
so  of  almost  every  thing  that  is  merchantable. 


232  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Why  can't  brains  bo  treated  in  the  same  waj^? 
And  is  there  no  way  by  which  those  who  cater 
to  this  "age  of  the  press"  can  be  made  to  mi- 
derstand  that  a  single  sentence  or  a  single 
thought  that  will  live  to  after-generations  is 
worth  more  than  a  thousand  ephemeral  arti- 
cles struck  off  at  a  single  sitting?  I  am  not 
disposed  to  deny  that  an  image  or  a  great 
thought  may,  at  times,  flash  across  the  mind 
in  an  instant.  Perhaps  the  germ  of  all  great 
thoughts  thus  springs  up ;  but  that  thought 
must  be  turned  over  and  elaborated  a  great 
while  before  it  is  fit  to  be  printed.  What  I 
wish  is,  that  our  readers  of  this  generation 
would  not  demand  such  a  great  mass  of  mat- 
ter from  the  press.  They  don't  read  it,  they 
can't  digest  it,  and  very  much  of  it  is  not 
worth  reading.  Why  can't  we  have  less,  and 
a  better  quality?  And  I  wish  that  those  who 
write  (and  who  does  not?)  would  understand 
that  if  they  will  only  give  us  half  as  much  in 
quantity,  but  of  a  superior  quality,  they  shall 
have  more  pay  in  money  and  in  our  gratitude. 
If  m}^  reader  should  say  that  such  as  write 
do  not  know  what  standard  they  do  actually 


"THE  AGE  OF  THE  PRESS."  233 

rcacli,  I  reply,  they  do  kiio\Y  how  mucli  pains 
they  take  not  to  throw  out  crude  thouglits 
tlirongh  the  press  ;  and  they  do  know  just 
how  much  hibor  they  have  bestowed  on  their 
productions.  If  they  do  n't  know,  their  read- 
ers do. 

I  have  no  quarrel  with  this  "age  of  the 
press."  I  realize  that  it  is  a  mightj^  power 
for  good  or  for  evil;  and  those  who  write, 
and  those  who  print  for  the  Sabbath-schools 
and  the  children  of  this  generation,  and  who 
speak  to  thousands  through  the  press,  ought 
to  be  very  anxious  to  make  their  power  the 
best  possible  for  the  good  of  men.  They  tread 
near  presumption  if  they  feel  they  may  write 
any  thing  that  will  sell,  or  any  thing  that  will 
be  popular.  Next  to  the  pulpit,  the  press  is 
a  mighty  power  in  the  world.  AYoe  to  us  if 
we  prostitute  or  abuse  that  power. 


234  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

XXXI. 

Hints   to   oui\^  Churches, 

There  is  a  very  general,  if  not  universal, 
expectation  among  our  churches  that  the  won- 
derful providences  through  which  we  have 
been  carried  are  to  be  followed  hj  a  great 
and  general  revival  of  religion.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  discuss  the  grounds  of  such  an 
expectation.  We  all  have  it,  ministers  and 
people,  more  or  less  strong,  that  the  excite- 
ment which  has  been  awakened,  and  the  activ- 
ities which  have  been  generated  the  past  few 
years  will  be  used  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
for  the  quickening  of  our  churches  and  the 
conversion  of  our  people.  In  very  many 
places  the  work  has  commenced,  and  the  noise 
in  the  tops  of  the  mulberry-trees  is  arousing 
many  to  be  ready.  As  thus  far  developed, 
the  movement  seems  to  be  marked  by  the  fol- 
lowing characteristics : 

The  movement  is  slow.  There  is  no  earth- 
quake, no  wind,  no  bright  fire,  but  a  gradual, 


HINTS  TO  OUR  CHURCHES.  235 

growing,  slowly  increasing  solemnity  on  the 
people.  So  far  as  I  hear,  the  ministry,  as  it 
should  be — the  eye  and  the  ear  and  the  month 
of  the  church — is  first  moved,  first  burdened, 
and  first  goes  to  work  directly  for  the  salva- 
tion of  souls. 

So  far,  the  work  begins  with  the  j'oung  in 
the  Sabbath -school,  taking  children  from 
twelve  years  old  and  upward,  to  tweiit}' — a 
few  older  and  a  few  j'ounger.  The  expecta- 
tion and  the  prayer  is,  that  it  will  extend  from 
the  young  upward.  But  this,  so  far,  is  the 
most  fruitful  field. 

As  a  consequence,  we  as  yet  do  not  find 
conviction  of  sin,  deep,  pungent,  and  over- 
wiielming.  Sinners,  trembling  and  (piaking 
in  the  old  way,  are  not  to  be  found.  They 
doubtless  will  be  when  older  persons  are 
reached.  We  are  not  to  be  surprised  at  this. 
These  youth  cannot  realize  sin,  when  the  out- 
ward manifestations  of  it  have  been  so  com- 
paratively w^eak.  But  convictions  they  will 
have  after  conversion,  and  indeed  all  the  rest 
of  their  lives. 

Another  consequent :    there  is  compara- 


236  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

lively  no  great  manifestation  of  joy.  The 
chains  have  fallen  off,  but  they  were  not  felt 
to  be  so  heavy  as  to  make  their  dropping  off 
heard  and  felt.  The  convert  smiles  and  sings 
and  loves.  He  has  not  been  down  deep  with 
the  bars  of  earth  around  him,  and  therefore 
he  cannot  exult.  He  has  not  been  a  cripple 
long  years,  and  therefore  he  cannot  run  and 
leap  and  praise  God  as  if  he  had  been.  But 
still,  the  marks  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit  are 
on  him,  and  the  sealing  thereof  is  plainly  to 
be  seen. 

The  meetings  hitherto  most  relied  on,  as 
they  should  be,  are  the  prayer -meetings. 
They  are  full,  solemn,  and  good.  Much  sing- 
ing is  demanded,  and  employed  to  great  ad- 
vantage. The  praying  is  marked  by  solem- 
nity, dependence  on  God,  large  desire,  and 
large  faith. 

There  is  less  of  conviction  and  terror 
among  backsliding  Christians  than  usual  in 
revivals.  This  is  to  be  regretted,  for  our 
churches  have  been  and  are  covetous,  world- 
ly, prayerless  to  too  great  a  degree,  cold  in 
heart,  negligent  in  duty,  absorbed  in  business, 


HINTS  TO  OUR  CHURCHES.  237 

and  conformed  to  the  world.  Wc  should  be 
dad  to  see  the  wanderers  return,  and  with 
the  mouth  make  confession  unto  life  eternal. 
They  have  made  and  do  now  make  business 
an  excuse  for  neglecting  every  duty,  except 
that  of  giving — a  kind  of  buying-off  process. 

I  wish  now  to  give  a  few  hints  to  my 
brethren  in  the  ministry  and  to  our  churches 
as  to  how  and  what  it  seems  to  me  we  should 
now  do. 

1.  Cultivate  a  large  faith.  Expect  great 
things,  pray  for  great  things,  attempt  great 
things.  Why  may  we  not  believe  that  God 
has  raised  up  this  nation  to  be  a  missionary 
and  a  model  among  the  nations  of  the  earth ; 
that  he  has  carried  us  through  the  baptism  of 
blood  for  this  very  purpose ;  that  he  is  going 
to  follow  it  now  by  a  great  outpouring  of  the 
Spirit ;  that  the  blessing  is  at  our  door ;  that 
He  has  not  created  this  universal  expectation 
without  intending  to  meet  it,  and  that  we  may 
now,  every  one  in  his  sphere,  aid  in  this  work 
of  mercy.  Let  our  faith  embrace  the  nation. 
If  we  have  not  this  faith,  let  us  ask  for  it,  seek 
it,  cultivate  it.     It  is  easier  for  us  to  bend  the 


238  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

bullrusli  than  the  oak,  but  is  any  thing  too 
hard  for  the  Lord  ?     Oh,  for  a  great  faith. 

2.  Let  our  dependence  be  very  much,  if 
not  chiefly,  on  prayer.  With  me  that  is 
greater  than  all  others.  Let  the  prayer- 
meeting  be  filled,  be  opened  often,  and  go  out 
and  ask  the  dreaming  brethren  and  sisters  to 
come  in.  Let  the  prayers  be  short,  humble, 
tender,  earnest,  and  solemn.  Do  n't  spend  so 
much  time  in  "blessing  God  for  the  few  drops," 
as  in  beseeching  him  for  the  "great  rain  of 
his  strength."  The  prayer  we  need  is  that 
which  comes  from  the  burdened  heart — the 
wrestling  praj^er  which  turns  the  Jacobs  into 
Israels.  Let  the  singings  be  many,  short, 
lively,  and  sweet.  Don't  drawl  in  this.  A 
few  should  take  it  upon  them  to  see  that  the 
singing  is  the  music  of  the  heart,  the  song  of 
invitation,  and  the  breathing  of  hope.  Music 
in  a  revival  should  be  adapted  to  our  wants, 
as  food  and  medicine  are  in  certain  states  of 
the  body.  The  almost  universally  good  sing- 
ing in  our  Sabbath-schools  gives  us  sweet  sing- 
ers at  hand.  But  they  cannot  sing  the  old 
tunes,  the  "Devizes,"  the  "St.  Martins,"  and 


HINTS  TO  OUR-CHURCHES.  239 

the  "Stephens"  of  other  days.  Wc  may  la- 
ment that  the  age  demands  lighter  food,  but 
they  must  have  the  manna  that  is  gathered 
while  the  dew  is  on  it. 

3.  Let  the  preaching  be  direct,  pointed, 
uncompromising,  solemn,  and  earnest.  Let 
the  sinner  feel  that  he  is  standing  before  God 
face  to  face.  Let  him  know  what  God  de- 
mands, and  how  he  owes  the  ten  thousand  tal- 
ents, and  has  nothing  to  pay.  Do  n't  be  anx- 
ious to  give  the  sinner  peace  or  comfort.  Let 
him  first  feel  his  need  of  mercy.  Go  into  his 
heart  and  bring  out  the  rubbish  and  filth  that 
have  been  accumulating  there  all  his  life.  The 
sinner  will  not  take  hold  of  Christ's  hand  till 
he  feels  that  he  is  sinking.  Do  n't  be  afraid 
to  declare  the  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel, 
any  more  than  Peter  was  in  that  great  model 
revival-sermon  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  But 
do  n't  depend  so  much  on  the  preaching  as  on 
the  praying. 

4.  Don't  begin  to  count  up  and  proclaim 
and  talk  over  the  number  of  converts ;  rather 
fix  the  mind  and  heart  on  the  great  number 
unconverted.      The  reaper  is  to  look  at  the 


240  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

field  not  gathered,  and  press  forward  to  get 
that  in.  Do  n't,  above  all  things,  begin  to  ex- 
ult that  Grod  has  done  so  much  for  your  con- 
gregation, 3'our  town  and  city,  your  denomi- 
nation. We  must  have  larger  views.  We 
must  have  a  greater  faith. 

5.  Take  good  care  of  the  young  converts — 
not  to  pet  them,  but  to  instruct  them,  train 
them,  give  them  the  right  moulding.  They 
are  to  be  our  churches,  our  ministers,  our  mis- 
sionaries. I  am  expecting  that  at  least  a  thou- 
sand ministers  are  to  come  up  out  of  the  revi- 
vals of  this  3^ear.  See  to  it  that  they  are  the 
right  coin,  and  have  the  right  die  stamped  on 
them.  Do  n't  hurry  them  into  the  church,  but 
meet  them,  pray  with  them,  instruct  them,  and 
keep  your  breath  warm  upon  them. 

6.  So  far,  we  don't  see  that  any  new  meas- 
ures are  needed.  In  some  places,  clusters  of 
churches  have  conferences,  conventions,  or 
something  of  that  sort,  and  to  very  great  ad- 
vantage. In  1831-2,  we  had  "Four  Days' 
Meetings,"  and  a  vast  good  they  did.  I  am 
not  afraid  of  "new  measures,"  but  we  must 
rely  on  the  Divine  Spirit,   on   the  sovereign 


HINTS  TO  OUK  CHURCHES.  211 

mercy  of  God,  and  pray  as  if  (Jud  must  do  it 
all,  and  jet  labor  as  if  it  all  depended  on  our 
faithfulness.  Wc  cannot  too  deeply  feel  our 
dependence  on  the  Holy  Spirit.  Wc  cannot 
supersede  our  need  of  earnest  prayer  by  any 
activity  or  bustle  or  outward  demonstrations. 
It  seems  to  me  that  never,  in  this  generation, 
has  so  great  a  responsibility  been  thrown  uj)on 
the  ministers  and  the  people  of  God,  as  at  this 
time.  He  bids  us  to  be  up  and  work.  Let 
the  Aarons  and  the  Hurs  hold  up  the  hands 
of  the  ministry,  and  let  us  at  once  arise  and 
go  up  and  possess  the  land.  The  fields  are 
white  for  the  harvest.  AVho  will  be  a  reaper? 
Reader,  will  you  ? 


11 


242  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 


XXXII. 

Why   Thomas  was    not    at    the   Prayer- 
meeting. 

"but   thomas,  one   op    the   twelve,   called 

DIDYMUS,   "WAS    NOT   WITH    THEM    WHEN    JESUS 
CAME." 

What  do  j^ou  suppose  was  the  reason  that 
Thomas  "was  nol  with  them?"  There  must 
have  been  some  reason,  which  he  doubtless 
thought  a  good  one. 

It  was  a  prayer-meeting  in  the  evening  of 
the  Lord's  day,  the  very  day  on  which  He 
arose  from  the  dead.  It  was  a  meeting  of  the 
"disciples" — not  apostles  merely — and  Mary 
who  wept  at  his  tomb,  and  the  mother  of 
Jesus,  and  Martha  and  others  of  the  sisters 
were  doubtless  present. 

It  was  a  very  remarkable  meeting.  It 
must  have  been  in  a  private  house.  The 
doors  were  fastened  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  who 
had  murdered  and  sealed  their  Master  uj)  in 


THE   ABSENT  DISCIPLE.  243 

the  tomb,  and  who  would  now  be  cnra,G;cd 
because  he  had  risen  from  the  dead.  While 
engaged  in  the  meeting,  tiie  following  remark- 
able events  took  place. 

The  doors  shut  and  fastened,  Jesus  came 
and  stood  among  them.  They  knew  his  face, 
his  form,  his  person,  hi.s  voice. 

The  Saviour  blessed  them.  "Peace  be 
unto  you."  How  did  he  know  wdiere  to  lind 
them  ?     How  did  he  enter  the  room? 

He  "showed  unto  them  his  hands," 
through  which  the  nails  had  been  so  lately 
driven,  "and  his  side,"  the  only  side  that  had 
been  pierced  by  a  spear. 

The  disciples  all  now  saw  him,  were  satis- 
fied that  he  had  risen  from  the  dead,  and  their 
faith  and  joy  were  full.  "Then  were  the  dis- 
ciples glad,  when  they  saw  the  Lord." 

He  blessed  them  the  second  time.  "Then 
said  Jesus  to  them  again,  Peace  be  unto 
you." 

He  commissioned  them  to  preach  his  gos- 
pel. "As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so 
send  I  you." 

Then   he   breathed    on   them — how   warm 


24:4:  HINTS. AND  THOUGHTS. 

and  sweet  that  breath — and  said,  "Receive  ye 
the  Holy  Ghost." 

He  gave  them  power  to  declare  sins  for- 
given. "Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they 
are  remitt^ed  unto  them  ;  and  whosesoever 
sins  je  retain,  they  are  retained." 

What  a  prayer-meeting  was  that.  How 
doubts  melted  away ;  how  fear  fled  from  them  ; 
how  hope  tuned  their  songs ;  how  joy  lighted 
up  their  faces ;  how  life  now  seemed  worth 
having  !  Christ  was  in  the  meeting  ;  all  were 
there  except  two — Judas,  who  had  gone  out 
and  committed  suicide  and  gone  "to  his  own 
place,"  and  one  more.  It  was  a  great  and 
most  important  meeting.  "But,"  we  are  told, 
"Thomas,  one  of  the  twelve,  called  Didj^mus, 
was  not  with  them  when  Jesus  came."  He 
didn't  see  the  glorious  face  of  the  Master;  he 
did  n't  hear  his  voice  ;  he  did  n't  hear  his 
blessing  of  peace ;  he  did  n't  see  his  hands  and 
his  side ;  he  did  n't  feel  his  breath  upon  him. 
He  did  n't  feel  the  power  of  Christ  dispelling 
his  doubts  and  fears  and  cheering  him  from 
his  disappointment;  he  didn't  have  the  re- 
port of  Mary  and  the  women  and  of  Peter,  that 


THE  ABSENT  DISCIPLE.  245 

He  had  risen,  confiriiied  with  liis  own  e^-es. 
No;  he  "was  not  tliere."  There  never  was 
such  a  prayer-meeting  held  before  ;  there 
never  will  be  another  like  it  as  long  as  the 
world  lasts.  But  Thomas  was  not  there 
"when  Jesus  came." 

His  absence  cost  liim  a  great  deal.  His 
doubts  and  unbelief  all  hung  upon  him ;  nay, 
they  increased.  It  made  him  ill-natured. 
When  they  all,  with  beaming  faces,  told  him 
what  they  had  seen  and  felt  and  enjoyed,  and 
the  very  w^ords  of  Christ,  it  only  made  him 
feel  w^orse,  till  he  declared  that  he  would  not 
believe,  not  he,  unless  he  could  put  his  fin- 
gers in  the  prints  of  the  nails  and  thrust  his 
hands  into  the  side  of  the  Redeemer.  It  cost 
him  the  fellowship  of  his  brethren,  Avhom  he 
would  not  believe.  It  cost  him  another  long 
week  of  doubts  and  darkness ;  it  cost  him  the 
reproof  of  his  Saviour,  and  it  might  have  cost 
him  his  soul. 

Why  was  Thomas  absent  from  the  prayer- 
meeting?  If  his  excuse  had  been  a  good  one, 
I  think  it  would  have  been  mentioned,  or  the 
bad  consequences  would   not  have  followed 


246  HINTS  AND   THOUGHTS. 

which  did  follow.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that 
his  absence  is  recorded  for  all  ages  to  read 
and  know.  I  have  been  trying  to  imagine  a 
reason  for  this  absence  of  Thomas  from  the 
prayer-meeting.  And  it 's  very  plain  that  it 
might  have  been  one  of  several  reasons. 

1.  Thomas  might  say,  "The  Sabbath  is 
God's  appointment,  and  the  service  of  the 
temple — the  morning  and  the  evening  sacri- 
fices. But  this  prayer-meeting — it's  a  mere 
human  thing  ;  it  was  got  up  by  the  brethren, 
and  there 's  no  evidence  that  it  is  according  to 
the  mind  of  G-od." 

But,  Thomas,  is  there  not  another  way 
by  which  we  may  come  at  the  will  of  God,  so 
plain  that  it  do  n't  need  to  be  put  in  the  Bible? 
Why  do  men  eat  at  regular  hours,  and  sleep 
and  rest  at  regular  hours  ?  Because  it 
grows  out  of  a  necessity  of  their  nature. 
y  Gvj  well;  and  the  social  prayer -meeting 
grows  out  of  the  necessity  of  our  moral  na- 
ture. Good  people,  in  all  ages,  have/e/i!  this 
necessity,  and  acted  on  it.  They  did  so  in 
olden  times  when  "  they  that  feared  the  Lord 
spake  often  one  to  another,"  "and  the  Lord 


THE  ABSENT  DISCIPLE.  247 

hearkened  and  heard  it."  They  did  so  when- 
ever they  were  in  distress,  or  Avhen  religion 
was  in  danger.  The  maidens  of  Esther  fasted 
and  prayed  together.  So  did  Daniel  and  his 
companions.  We  must  have  social  prayer  in 
order  to  have  spiritual  life.  It  grows  out  of 
our  nature.  You  grow  cold,  you  grow  unbe- 
lieving, you  lose  the  comforts  of  religion  with- 
out it.  You  have  no  formal,  exi)licit,  divine 
appointment  for  family  prayer ;  but  it  grows 
out  of  the  very  nature  of  the  family  relations, 
and  God  w^ill  "  pour  out  his  fury  upon  the 
families  that  call  not  on  his  name."  You 
know  that  Abraham  prayed  w'itli  and  for  his 
family ;  so  did  David  ;  so  did  Christ.  So  have 
good  men  in  all  ages.  The  ver}'  constitution 
of  a  family  requires  family  worship,  and  you 
can't  neglect  it  and  not  feel  that  something  is 
wanting.  You  don't  ask  for  chapter  and 
verse  to  find  that  it  is  the  will  of  God,  nor  do 
we  that  it  is  his  will  that  men  shall  attend  the 
social  prayer-meeting.  But  perhaps  this  w^as 
not  the  reason  why  Thomas  "was  not  there 
when  Jesus  came." 

2.  lie  mio-ht  have  been  a  man  of  ^reat 


248  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

taste,  one  who  loved  the  magnificent  temple- 
service,  one  wlio  enjoyed  "the  cymbals"  and 
"the  cornets"  and  "the  organ,"  "the  trum- 
pets" and  "the  shawms" — the  voices  of  the 
trained  choir  made  Chenaniah  the  master  of 
song ;  but  he  could  n't  enjoy  that  prayer-meet- 
ing. Why,  they  only  read  a  chapter  in  the 
Bible,  and  then  they  sung — and  such  singing ! 
Why,  there  was  Peter's  rough,  heavy  voice, 
alwaj^s  out  of  tune ;  and  there  was  Matthew, 
always  humming  on  one  cord ;  and  there  was 
Bartholomew,  always  pitching  the  tune  too 
high  or  too  low,  sometimes  almost  breaking 
down,  and  often  drawling  over  the  same 
old  tunes.  Oh,  if  they  could  only  have  had 
such  singing  at  the  prayer-meeting  as  they 
had  at  the  great  temple.  Alas,  Thomas  can't 
enjoy  such  singing. 

And  then  his  taste  is  offended  again  at  the 
manner  of  conducting  the  meeting.  What 
tame  work  they  make  of  talking.  How  they 
tell  over  the  words  which  they  heard  Christ 
speak,  again  and  again.  How  they  tell  of  his 
calling  them,  again  and  again.  How  Thomas 
has  to  hear  about  the  same  thing  over  and 


THE  ABSENT  DISCIPLE.  249 

over,  Avhcu  lie  wants"  to  lieur  soiuetliiiig  origi- 
nal, something  startling.  Oh,  if  Gamaliel,  or 
some  great  doctor  of  divinity,  conld  lead  the 
meeting  and  i)onr  out  an  eloquent  disserta- 
tion ;  if  some  learned  scribe  would  come  in 
and  lead  the  meeting  and  tell  us  all  ho  knew  ; 
hut  Thomas  never  enjoys  meetings  conducted 
by  laymen.  He  finds  fault  because  they  sing 
old  tunes,  when  he  knows  they  can't  sing  any 
other.  His  taste  is  oflended  because  the 
brethren  talk  and  pray  so  uninterestingly, 
when  he  knows  that  he  never  set  a  better  ex- 
ample of  a  rightly-conducted  meeting.  The 
carriage  is  small,  but  he  wants  a  steam-engine 
to  draw  it.  Or  perhaps  this  is  not  the  rea- 
son why  Thomas  "was  not  there  when  Jesus 
came." 

,3.  He  might  have  said.  "I  have,  been  at 
work  hard  all  the  day,  and  I  am  weary  and 
dull,  and  now  if  I  go  up  half  or  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  to  the  meeting,  I  shall  get  no  good ; 
and  there  will  be  enough  there  without  me ; 
the  meeting  will  go  on.  I  am  sure  that  when 
one  has  been  hard  at  work  all  the  day,  he 
ought  to  be  excused  from  going  up  the  dark 
11* 


250  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

Street  to  find  a  prajer-meeting.  Besides,  if  I 
want  to  go  to  a  meeting,  I  can  just  step  into 
one  of  the  synagogues  near  by;  to  be  sure, 
they  might  reject  and  scoff  at  my  Master,  but 
they  wont  recognize  me  as  a  disciple,  and  I 
shall  be  careful  and  not  tell  them.  Of  course 
it  can't  be  expected  that  working-people  like 
me  shall  go  to  the  prayer-meeting.  To  be 
sure,  if  I  had  had  nothing  to  do  all  the  day 
but  sit  round  and  hear  and  tell  the  news,  I 
should  go ;  but  as  it  is,  I  am  tired,  and  do  n't 
feel  very  well,  and  very  likely  that  close 
room,  with  all  the  doors  shut,  will  give  me 
the  headache  and  unfit  me  for  the  duties  of 
to-morrow." 

But  perhaps  that  was  not  the  reason  why 
Thomas  was  not  at  the  prayer-meeting  when 
Jesus  came  in  and  blessed  it. 

4.  He  is  a  man  of  many  acquaintances, 
perhaps,  and  last  night  he  was  at  a  party  at 
the  house  of  Zabdi  the  son  of  Zechariah,  near 
the  temple,  and  the  party  was  very  large  and 
very  fashionable,  and  Thomas  stayed  very 
late.  It  was  a  delightful  party,  and  the  en- 
tertainment was  fine,  and  there  were  many 


THE  A13SENT  DLSCITLE.  251 

strangers  from  abroad,  and  (lie  inusie  was  ex- 
quisite, and  the  dancing  was  continued  till  a 
very  late  hour,  and  somehow  or  other  Thomas 
don't  feel  like  going  to  the  [)ravcr-niecting 
to-night.  James  and  John  and  Peter  do  n't 
seem  so  refined,  nor  such  real  gentlemen,  as 
those  he  met  at  Zabdi's  house.  The  women 
who  will  be  there — the  sisters  of  Lazarus  and 
Joses,  and  a  few  others — seem  ver}'^  ordinary 
people  compared  with  those  at  the  party.  lie 
wonders  W'hy  those  who  go  to  prayer-meeting 
need  be  such  common  sol't  of  people.  Not  a 
scribe,  not  a  Pharisee,  not  a  single  real  gen- 
tleman, as  the  world  would  call  them,  among 
them  all.  He  wonders  why  it  is  that  going  to 
the  party  should  make  him  avoid  the  jirayer- 
meeting.  He  knows  that  the  good  people  won't 
say  a  word  about  it ;  perhaps  they  do  n't  know 
of  it.  He  knows  he  can  go  in  late,. and  take 
a  seat  down  near  the  door ;  but  what  if  they 
should  notice  him  and  ask  him  to  take  a  part. 
What  if  he  should  hear  Peter's  strong  voice 
calling  out,  "  AVill  brother  Thomas  please  to 
lead  us  in  prayer  ?"  He  knows  he  is  in  no  state 
for  that,  and  so  he  will  stay  away  to-night. 


252  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

But  perhaps  tins  was  not  the  reason  why 
Thomas  "was  not  with  them  when  Jcsns 
came." 

5.  It  may  have  been  that  he  did  calculate 
to  go,  had  the  evening  been  very  pleasant.  But 
it  looks  likely  to  rain,  and  the  streets  are  mud- 
dy, and  his  sandals  are  not  very  good,  and  it 
is  a  long  way  off,  and  so  he  concludes  he  will 
not  attend  the  prayer-meeting  to-night.  To 
be  sure,  he  has  been  up  town  several  times 
during  the  day  on  business,  notwithstanding 
the  broken  strap  of  his  sandal,  and  the  deep 
mud.  To  be  sure,  he  went  much  farther  last 
evening  to  get  to  Zabdi's  house.  But  that  was 
not  a  praj'er-mceting.  Parties  do  n't  come  off 
every  week,  but  the  prayer-meeting  does. 
Kain  and  mud  do  not  keep  Thomas  at  home, 
except  from  the  praj^er-meeting. 

But  perhaps  this  was  not  the  reason  why 
Thomas  "  was  not  with  them  when  Jesus 
came." 

6.  Might  it  not  have  been  that  he  did  not 
want  to  hear  his  imperfect  brethren  pray  ? 
There  were  James  and  John,  who  once  wanted 
to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  and  burn  up  their 


TKE  ABSENT  DISCIPLE.  253 

Master's  enemies  ;  mid  tliosc  two  wiinted  to 
be  great  oflicers,  and  stand  on  the  right  hand 
and  on  the  left  of  the  Saviour  in  his  king(h)ni. 
How  sliall  lie  hear  such  vindictive,  ambitious 
men  pray  in  meeting.  And  there  is  Peter, 
sure  to  be  foremost  in  speaking  and  praying, 
the  man  who  has  just  lieen  denying  his  Lord 
with  cursing  and  swearing — how  can  he  liear 
him  pray?  And  there  is  Mary  Magdalene, 
out  of  whom  went  seven  devils ;  she  Avill  be 
there,  and  be  sure  to  sing  louder  than  anybody 
else.  Thomas  wishes  the  prayer-meeting  was 
composed  of  moro  perfect  characters.  There 
is  nobody  there  to  make  it  respectable.  Nic- 
odemus  won't  be  there,  and  Joseph  of  Arima- 
tliea  won't  be  there — not  a  single  upright, 
moral,  faultless  Pharisee  ;  not  a  single  man 
who  is  known  in  Jerusalem  as  a  nobleman,  a 
great  man,  or  a  rich  man.  But  every  prayer 
will  be  offered  and  every  hymn  will  be  sung 
by  such  as  Thomas  knows  are  very  imperfect 
men.  He  knows  all  their  weaknesses,  and  so 
he  can't  enjoy  the  services.  If  it  were  only 
in  some  great  hall,  where  there  would  be  a 
great  crowd  of  people,  *aiid  where  some  great 


264  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

orator  who  had  come  from  Corinth  or  from 
Damascus  or  from  Eome,  were  to  lecture  "on 
the  times,"  there  would  be  no  difficulty ; 
Thomas  would  be  sure  to  be  there.  Indeed, 
almost  any  thing  would  bring  him  out,  except 
the  prayer-meeting.  He  says  he  's  not  edi- 
fied by  that.  It  is  too  dull,  too  monotonous, 
and  too  tame.  He  feels  that  he  is  not  bound 
to  go  any  where  or  do  any  thing  in  which  he 
has  not  present,  personal  enjoyment.  He  is 
bound  to  do  only  what  he  feels  adds  to  his 
own  comfort.  It  is  not  a  question  with  him 
whether  his  presence  or  absence  will  encour- 
age or  discourage  his  brethren,  but  what  will 
be  for  his  own  greatest  enjoyment. 

But  perhaps  this  was  not  the  reason  why 
Thomas  ' '  was  not  with  them  when  Jesus 
came." 

7.  Perhaps  he  would  say,  "I  can't  bear 
the  hot,  close  room,  where  there  is  no  venti- 
lation, and  I  am  almost  sure  to  take  cold  when 
I  come  out  in  the  evening  air."  And  yet  he 
knows  that  the  prayer-meeting  will  be  only  an 
hour  long,  and  he  has  already  said  there  will 
not  be  over  twelve  or 'fifteen  present;  and  he 


THE  ABSENT  DISCIPLE.  255 

knows  that  he  goes  into  other  crowded  rooms 
where  there  is  no  ventilation,  and  stays  there 
many  hours,  and  his  constitution  is  able  to 
endure  it.  lie  do  n't  remember  ever  taking 
cold  on  such  an  occasion — never. 

8.  Perhaps  he  is  afraid  of  the  Jews,  afraid 
that  they  will  come  uj^on  them  and  put  them 
in  prison ;  and  yet  it  is  but  a  few  days  since 
he  was  urging  that  all  the  disciples  should  go 
into  Judea  with  Christ  and  die  with  him  there. 
Courage  was  the  very  last  thing  he  would 
allow  to  be  wanting  in  his  case. 

9.  Perhaps  he  has  some  hard  feeling  tow- 
ards some  one  of  the  disciples.  Peter  or 
some  one  has  spoken  unkindly  to  him  or  of 
him,  and  it  rankles  in  his  heart.  He  don't 
want  to  attend  a  prayer-meeting  where  such 
men  meet  to  pray.  It  would  be  far  better,  he 
thinks,  if  they  would  come  and  ask  his  pardon 
before  going  into  the  meeting.     Or, 

10.  Perhaps  he  has  been  driving  a  hard 
bargain  to-day,  and  by  concealing  or  by  over-, 
stating  has  made  such  a  bargain  and  gained 
such  an  advantage  as  he  would  not  like  to  have 
another  gain  over  him,  and  somehow  it  hap- 


256     .  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

pens  that  he  do  n't  exactly  feel  like  going  to 
that  prayer-meeting  to-night.  He  do  n't  know 
precisely  what  the  reason  is,  but  he  thinks  he 
will  stay  away.  And  if  any  one  of  the  breth- 
ren should  ask  him  why  he  was  not  there,  he 
can  say  that  "it  was  not  convenient,"  he  "had 
a  headache,"  or  something  else.     Or, 

11.  Perhaps  Thomas  was  discouraged.  He 
had  seen  that  his  Master  was  put  to  death, 
and  he  forgets  that  this  very  event  w^as  fore- 
told by  him ;  he  has  seen  him  put  in  the  tomb 
and  the  tomb  sealed,  and  the  Eoman  soldiers 
set  to  guard  it,  and  he  forgets  that  his  Master 
said  he  would  rise  again  on  the  third  day.  It 
is  reported  indeed  that  "the  Lord  is  risen," 
and  has  been  seen  of  Mary  and  of  Peter ;  but 
in  a  time  of  such  "  excitement,"  nobody  is  to 
be  trusted.  He  is  told  that  the  disciples  are 
to  have  a  prayer-meeting  to-night,  to  com- 
pare notes  and  to  see  what  the  evidence  is  that 
the  Lord  has  risen.  But  Thomas  has  made  up 
his  mind  that  it  is  all  a  delusion  of  the  imagi- 
nation, and  he  will  not  go.  He  knows  that 
Christ  told  him  that  wherever  "two  or  three 
should  gather  together  in  his  name,  there  he 


THE  ABSENT  DISCITLE.  257 

would  be  ill  the  midst  of  tliem ;"  but  Christ  is 
dead,  and  how  can  a  dead  man  be  there.  No  ; 
all  his  hopes  have  been  disappointed.  lie  had 
hoped  that  the  prophecies  and  the  expectation 
of  all  the  churches  in  past  ages,  and  "the 
Desire  of  all  nations'*  was  come,  but  all  this 
seems  to  be  at  an  end.  Christ  is  dead ;  and 
he  does  not,  cannot,  and  will  not  believe  that 
he  will  ever  rise  again. 

So  he  sunk  in  discouragement  and  gloom, 
and  felt  morose,  and  stayed'  away  from  the 
.prayer-meeting.  "And  Thomas  was  not  with 
them  when  Jesus  came."  But  perhaps,  after 
all,  I  have  not  jct  given  the  real  reason  why 
Thomas  was  not  with  them.  I  can  think  of 
but  one  more,  and  that  I  shall  leave  you  to 
conjecture. 

Perhaps  it  was  the  first  meeting  of  the  kind 
he  had  ever  been  absent  from.  Perhaps  he 
was  very  often  absent,  and  this  was  his  cus- 
tom. But  we  have  no  evidence  that  he  was 
ever  absent  from  another.  I  will  not  say  he 
never  was,  but  hope  he  was  not. 

But  how  much  he  lost.  There  they  met, 
closing  the  doors  and  windows,  drawing  the 


258  niNTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

bolts.  There  was  Peter,  the  tears  of  repent- 
ance hardly  dr}^  upon  his  cheeks,  his  eyes  red 
with  his  late  weeping,  and  yet  the  flush  of  joy 
on  his  face,  because  his  Master  has  alread}^ 
met  him,  and  showed  himself  alive,  and  for- 
given him.  How  he  wants  to  shout  and  tell 
of  the  mercy.  There  is  John,  subdued,  ten- 
der, and  loving.  Leaning  on  his  arm  came  in 
Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  now  his  own 
adopted  mother.  He  stood  with  her  near  the 
cross,  and  heard  the  last  prayer,  and  saw  the 
last  heaving  of  the  breast  as  his  Lord  died. 
And  there  are  they  all ;  some  faces  clouded 
still  with  doubts  and  fears ;  some  looking 
blank,  neither  believing  nor  disbelieving ; 
some  radiant  with  hope  and  joy — not  a  doubt 
but  the  mysterious  One  has  risen.  How  they 
sing  from  the  heart.  And  now  they  all  kneel 
in  prayer.  John  is  leading  them  in  prayer. 
What  a  stillness  pervades  the  room.  How 
simple  and  how  beautiful  John's  prayer.  And 
now  they  rise  from  their  knees,  and  Jesus 
stands  in  the  midst  of  them,  just  as  he  said  he 
would,  only  the  eye  can  see  him  now.  How 
awful  his  presence,  his  power.     They  gaze  at 


THE  ABSENT  DISCIPLE.  251) 

him  ill  silence,  not  even  Peter  daring  to  speak. 
And  now  Christ  speaks :  "Peace  be  unto  j'ou." 
Ah,  it's  his  own  voice,  it's  his  own  face,  his 
own  f 07^1,  It  is  the  Lord  himself,  risen  from 
the  dead ! 

What  a  means  of  grace  was  that  prayer- 
meeting.  What  spiritual  mercies  flowed 
through  it.  In  all  Jerusalem,  in  all  the  globe, 
was  there  any  gathering  to  be  compared  with 
that?  Would  it  not  have  been  better  to  be 
absent  from  any  meeting  ever  held  than  from 
that?  "And  Thomas  was  not  with  them  when 
Jesus  came."  So  he  was  left  to  doubts  and 
darkness  and  gloom.  The  testimony  of  his 
brethren  made  no  impression  on  him.  The 
ver}'  words  which  his  Master  spoke  to  them 
were  disbelieved.  And  what  a  reproof  and 
rebuke  awaited  him  for  his  unbelief,  which 
would  all  have  been  gone  had  he  been  at  the 
prayer-meeting. 

"These  things  are  written  for  our  instruc- 
tion and  admonition."  I  don't  know  as  I 
have  suggested  the  true  reason  why  Thomas 
was  not  with  them  at  the  prayer-meeting 
when  Jesus  came.     You  can  decide  as  well 


260  HINTS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

as  I.  But  there  must  have  beeu  a  good  rea- 
son why  the  account  is  written  in  the  word  of 
God.  In  reading  the  account,  it  always  makes 
me  feel  sad  that  at  this  wonderful,  joyful, 
most  important  prayer-meeting,  "Thomas  was 
not  with  them  when  Jesus  came." 


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